BreezyOhio

All the files look to be there though they are not exactly the same as the initial install which has plugins, widgets, themes, etc.

Fortunately though I found the issue! I had edited the wp-config file because the site has only an IP now .. no domain yet (it needs to be transferred from another hosting company). Anyway I added ..
/** for setting up blog prior to setting domain IP */
define(‘WP_HOME’,’https://74.86.235.xxx/~jwhit/blog’);
define(‘WP_SITEURL’,’https://74.86.235.xxx/~jwhit/blog’);

I originally added it to the bottom of the file. However I moved it up to about line 35 ..without any other changes .. i swear .. and it works fine now. Go figure!

Sorry .. never mind .. I got the full theme via zip on github.

But you still want to look into your site problem.

Chip
Your site still looks broken to me .. it shows for a bit, maybe to load the entire page, then it goes to this link ..
https://pdfforge.mybrowserbar.com/cgi/errors.cgi?q=https://www.chipbennett.net/&type=dns&ISN=6A69528202BD44B59150491938308D5D&ccv=137&cnid=827316&cco=US&ct=3&sc=500

Now my REAL reason to write .. Do you have a copy of styles.css? I had a script malfunction while editing thru a browser (the irony is that I didn’t change anything, just clicked save before I closed the edit screen). Now my site has a whacked upper menu bar, whic is I guess coding at the bottom of the styles.css file.

PS: Your blog looks whacked in FF. It loads, displays, then I get ..
Oops! This page appears broken. DNS Error – Server cannot be found.

Oh no, the only reason I suggested that last layout is because some users might someday want to create a wider website than is the standard today. Then again ideally you would also be changing the width of the headers and footers so just scarp this idea. and forget the last option.

More than you changing your theme, which I hate to make you do, it’s more about how you use themes in WP to predetermine a “standard” page layout which defines pages by site. WP, IMO, will someday have to make layouts page editable instead of site editable.

Keep in mind that I’m no WordPress expert so this might not make sense to others but since you asked ..

I would have ..
2 column, sidebar left
2 column, sidebar right
3 column with halfbars
3 column with halfbar left and full sidebar right

The whole idea that pages have to be laid out based on a site wide or theme wide specification doesn’t make sense to me. Why not just allow the designer to lay out each page as they see fit and really define widgets (apparently there are half and full width widgets too) by the page, rather than by page type. They could name the layout and use it as needed.

But that’s just how I see it. I understand WP started as a blog system, but like it or not it’s morphed (at least partly) into a website builder package, so that’s how these conflicts are created. Maybe in the future WP will handle widgets by the page instead of by page type. Maybe that would require too much to change.

“The Sidebar Column Top and Sidebar Column Bottom sidebars are full-width sidebars that only appear on pages that use the blog post-style layouts, i.e. single blog posts, blog post index pages, and the front page. “

What can I do to make the system see my contact us page (and others yet to be added) single blog posts then to get the same layout as my home page?

My widgets are in “sidebar column top”

I was referring to the Oenology Options|Layout setting in the theme options, though the settings for the pages are the same setting too. Does Oenology vary the layout depending on whether the page is the home page or not? I set the contact us to the “front page” layut but it didn’t change anything.

Would an image make a difference? I don’t remember the page layout changing when I added an image to the home page.

Sorry I forgot to tell you which pages .. home page and about us ..

Arrgh! This problem is driving me crazy. I added a new page with exactly the same layout as my home page and I cannot get the widgets to show up there even though the page type is the same (static page) the column layout is the same (2 column with sidebar on right) with same layout in Oenology layout options too, and no posting on either page.

Any idea what I’m doing wrong? here’s the website temp link if that helps ..
https://74.86.235.128/~jwhit/

As a clue if I adjust the about us page to 3 column all kinds of widgets show up that are not in the widgets settings. Confusing to me.

Yes I was concerned about that, given that oenology has it’s own layout area.

hey Chip

I found this link on your site about creating page templates. Is it still valid info, being that it’s a year old, pre 3.2?
https://www.chipbennett.net/2010/11/01/oenology-how-to-create-a-child-theme-and-a-custom-page-template/

Could I create a page template that would give me the static page, 2 column layout with sidebar on the left and content on the right?

How do I control whether a page is static page layout or a single post layout? The single post layout does have the left sidebar and right side content option.

I understand how options change every time WP is updated, etc. Now that a menu can be a widget would there be a need for a menu only sidebar space?

In this layout as per your example can you place widgets under the menu? If so i can just create a menu for something and then put widgets below that.