Widgets shift between sidebars unexpectedly

  • I run a WordPress website that is rather complex. As a sidebar solution, it uses a version of the plugin Core Sidebars, allowing custom sidebars on every page. I have modified this plugin somewhat to work with the theme the site uses (Vigilance), as well as to provide sidebar inheritance, reduce server load, and a few miscellaneous tweaks. As a result of this, the site uses over 12 different sidebars.

    Here’s the problem. Occasionally, the widgets of one sidebar will ‘jump’ to another. It’s happened twice so far. I haven’t modified any of the database-interaction code in Core Sidebars, so if this is a bug in the plugin, it’s probably present in the original (unmodified) version.

    Here’s a full list of the plugins the site runs:
    BackUpWordPress
    Calendar (active but not presently used anywhere)
    Core Sidebars (hacked for stability, features, etc)
    Executable PHP Widget (hacked to work with text box CSS)
    Vertical Response Widget
    WP-Mail-SMTP
    WP Subtitle
    WP Keywords (copy of WP Subtitle, hacked to do keywords instead)

    So, the question. Does anyone have any idea what’s going on? Is it Core Sidebars? Is it a plugin conflict? Is WordPress just not built to handle this many sidebars?
    Thanks in advance!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • I’ve seen many sites with far more plugins, so it’s highly unlikely to be due to the number of plugins you’re using. Have you tried:

    – deactivating all plugins to see if this resolves the problem? If this works, re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s).

    – switching to the default theme to rule out any theme-specific problems?

    Thread Starter SoItBegins

    (@soitbegins)

    After some testing, I stumbled onto the cause of the bug. However, I’m not entirely sure what to do for a solution.

    The bug is caused by removing a sidebar (through Core Sidebars) that is in the middle of the list of sidebars. Then, the widgets of the other sidebars near it are thrown in all directions.

    Still investigating, though I’m pretty sure I can narrow this down: It’s either an oversight in Core Sidebars, or one in WordPress– and I suspect the former.

    Any ideas on what might be causing the problem?

    I don’t know the Core Sidebars plugin. Plus you mentioned that you’ve since hacked the plugin. Either way, I’d suggest ditching that plugin and looking for an alternative solution. What exactly were you using it for?

    Thread Starter SoItBegins

    (@soitbegins)

    Quite a lot. To put it simply, every page on the site (>100 pages) uses one of >12 unique, customized sidebars whose existence is made possible by the plugin. As such, it’s currently classed as a ‘load-bearing’ plugin– if I remove it, the site falls down.

    Could you switch over to a coded solution? Twelve sidebars is quite a few but not an inordinately large number.

    Thread Starter SoItBegins

    (@soitbegins)

    Well, the number of sidebars is only going to go up from here– one of the reasons we’re using Core Sidebars is that we can add new sidebars at a click.
    Still, I will take a look and see if the functionality of the plugin could be added into my copy of WordPress.

    EDIT: I just discovered something interesting. Core Sidebars was re-register_sidebar()ing the full set of sidebars EVERY TIME A PAGE WAS LOADED. It also wasn’t unregister_sidebar()ing sidebars it was told to remove. I think fixing those two things will solve the bug. Off to try it.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • The topic ‘Widgets shift between sidebars unexpectedly’ is closed to new replies.