Confusion over template files

  • I have a strange situation going on with a static customer site that I am converting to WP. Since the static site had a left and right sidebars and a central content area I added and registered a second widgetized sidebar to a child theme in twentyeleven. This went very well and is working fine. However, when I go into the Edit Page panel in admin the template listed for all static pages is “Sidebar Template.” Initially, I thought this referred to sidebar.php, which I altered to add the extra sidebar; but the sidebar.php file has no calls to “header-sidebar-or footerphp,” so how could it be functioning as a “template file?” Eventually, I decided to look in the twentyeleven (non-child) directory, and there i found a file “sidebar-page.php,” and in the PHP at the top of the page was Template Name: Sidebar Template. Apparently, I created this file in the process of adding the extra sidebar and forgot that I did it.
    I guess my concerns are as follows:
    I am nervous about having a template file with the filename of “.sidebar-page.php” and the name of “Sidebar Template” for all of my static pages. Shouldn’t this be “index.php,” and “Index Template?”—especially since my “front page” is a static page. (I looked at the index.php file and it had no “template name” at the top.) Should I re-name “.sidebar-page.php” and “Sidebar Template” to “index.php,” and should I name “index.php” as Index Template? Or does index.php have special meaning in WP.
    I am worried that a bunch of small errors will create big problems that are hart to unravel later.
    I apologize if I am asking too much.

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  • See creating custom page templates.

    Thread Starter Ichabod2

    (@ichabod2)

    Sorry I haven’t responded until now, but things happen. I am going to review “creating custom page templates,” but I have been thru it several times. I think my last paragraph indicates my confusion—I am not even sure how to frame my questions.
    I am reading a book titled “Professional WordPress Design and Development by Stern, Damstra, and Williams. The first few chapters have contributed more to my understanding of WP than all of the Codex’s I have read. The codex is wonderful, but is does a poor job (in my opinion) of tying things together. The gurus behind WP should think about creating more articles that take a more “birds-eye,” or “tree-top” view, of WP.
    This is absolutely NOT a criticism! I know how full their plates must be. In fact, I am astounded by what they have accomplished.

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