WordPress plugin intelligence profile

Content Sidebars

Give an instant boost to your Layout and Call-to-Action options. Auto-add Sidebars to your Post Content Display, inside and out!

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Current directory snapshot

Tested up to WordPress 6.5
Current version1.7.0
WordPress coverageTested up to WordPress 6.5
Minimum stackWP 3.0.0 · PHP —
Directory statusactive
Last directory update10 Jul 20242y ago
Active installations10Adoption metric — not a quality score
WordPress.org rating2.0 / 5 from 1 ratings
Official packageDirect from WordPress.org

Repository metrics are context, not quality scores. Active installations measure adoption and can strongly reflect a plugin’s age and historical popularity. Ratings, recent updates and “Tested up to” metadata also do not guarantee modern code, error-free operation, security, feature completeness or suitability for a particular site. Why active installs don’t tell the whole story →

WP PlugIndex currently records Content Sidebars version 1.7.0 as active, updated 2y ago and tested up to WordPress 6.5.

Overview

About this plugin

Use Content Sidebars to give an instant boost to your Layout and Call-to-Action options.

Automatically add Widget Sidebars to your Content display area, inside and out!

Improve Subscriber Conversions, Call-to-Actions, Visitor Experience, AdSense Revenue,

)

  • Subscribe or Call-to-Action Widget Areas – Top of Post and Bottom of Post Content
  • Visitor Targeting – Login Visitor and Logged-In User Sidebars for Offers and Navigation
  • Easy Widgets in Posts – Shortcodes for using Widgets within your Post Content
  • Boost Ads and AdSense Revenue and CTRs – InPost Sidebars for Contextual Advertising

You can safely activate this plugin and create additional Sidebars and thus Widget Areas

to use instantly – regardless of your existing theme. See the Frequently Asked Questions

for usage notes on better integration with your Theme.

Additional Sidebars (Widget Areas) available through Content Sidebars:

  • Above Post Content — ie. above the_content() output (or other hook position)
  • Below Post Content — ie. below the_content() output (or other hook position)
  • Login Sidebar ——– a Login Sidebar shown only to Visitors (Logged Out Users)
  • Fallback Sidebar —– a fallback Sidebar shown to Return Visitors (Logged In Users)
  • 3 Shortcode Sidebars – use Sidebars/Widgets on posts/pages via simple shortcodes
  • 3 InPost Sidebars —- for automatic contextual advertising, eg. Google Adsense

All Sidebars persist between Theme activations/deactivations, making theme conversions

easier too – no need to add all the Widgets again or even move them.

There are also PerPost overrides available via the Content Sidebars metabox for each post

type on the post writing/editing screen to enable/disable any of these sidebars for that page.

Filters and Widget plugins are available for advanced display and output logic for all

sidebars, giving even further flexible options to when and which sidebars are displayed.

Content Sidebars Home

Support Forum

Above/Below Content Sidebars – for Subscribe / Join / Call-to-Action Offers

Adding these sidebars creates an excellent space to encourage visitor registration or

mailing list subscriptions or other call-to-action offers. Using registration or

subscriber widgets in these places can have better results than places them in your

standard sidebar locations. To take a relevent parallel, split tests show that the

headline and the PS sections of salespages are the most often looked at, so using

these spaces wisely on any webpage is a must.

The Above/Below Sidebars work either via Template Action Hooks or Content Filters methods.

Either method can be used with any theme. The Template Action Hook defaults are preconfigured

for immediate use with BioShip Child Theme Framework

Login Sidebar – for Easy Return Visitor Login

Allowing returning visitors to login from any page on your site rather than having to

go to a specific login page increases your site’s usability and accessibility. And of

course having this sidebar automatically not show for already logged in users, or show

different content in it’s place (see next) are further good ideas.

Logged In Sidebar – for User Fallback and Member Offers

This was created so you can have different content for Logged In Users (eg. your Members)

so that you can display for example a Join Us / Signup / Register Widget for new visitors

and after they have signed up and logged in, show Members Area links or offers in their

place instead. A very handy professional touch.

Shortcode Sidebars – for Easy Widgets in Pages or Posts

The three Shortcode Sidebars can be used via WordPress shortcodes in your post content,

or by adding a shortcode sidebar call to your theme template files or plugins.

eg. [shortcode-sidebar-1] will call any Widgets dropped in Shortcode Sidebar 1.

InPost Sidebars – for Contextual Advertising Magic

InPost Sidebars are spaced evenly throughout your paragraph text at whichever positions

you like, for whichever Post Types you choose. For example: Drop an AdSense Widget or

Advertising Widget or other HTML advertising block in each Sidebar (3 available) to show

these sidebars periodically throughout your post content. Awesome.

Discreet Text Widget – for better Shortcode output in Sidebars

Using shortcode in text widgets has the advantage of being able to easily use custom code

in your Sidebars. However, in different conditions you may want this shortcode to display

nothing at all. If you were using a normal text widget it would still output the empty widget

) – but with a Discreet Text Widget, if the shortcode returns empty the widget

does not output at all. So this useful type of widget as been included with Content Sidebars.

Credit: Hackadelic Discreet Text Widget Plugin

Content Sidebars Home

Support Forum

Content Sidebars Home

Like this plugin? Check out more of our free plugins here:

WordQuest Alliance Plugins

Looking for an awesome theme? Check out my child theme framework:

BioShip Child Theme Framework

Support

For support or if you have an idea to improve this plugin:

Content Sidebars Support Quests

Donate

To make a donation for a feature request, or to activate a supporter subscription:

Content Sidebars Donation

Development

To contribute directly to development, fork on Github and do a pull request:

Content Sidebars on Github

Planned Updates/Features

  • Subcriber Recognition code via Cookie detection option
  • Smart Filters to hide Subscription Widgets from Subscribed Visitors
WordPress.org metadata

Plugin tags

Topics listed for this plugin in the WordPress.org directory.

  • content area
  • content sidebar
  • widget areas
  • sidebars
  • widgets
Compatibility & maintenance

Compatibility & maintenance

Tested up to WordPress 6.5

Not yet marked as tested with WordPress 7.1. WordPress.org currently lists Tested up to 6.5.

Current WordPress releaseWordPress 7.1
WordPress.org Tested up to6.5
Minimum requirementsWordPress 3.0.0 · PHP not listed
Update activity10 Jul 20242y ago

“Tested up to” is directory metadata supplied by the plugin author. WP PlugIndex does not turn an older declaration into a claim that the plugin is incompatible.

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