Classic Theme Sidebars and Widgets

Use this when adding or reviewing widget areas in a classic PHP theme: blog sidebars, footer columns, header widget areas, shop sidebars, or template-specific widget regions.

In WordPress naming, "sidebar" means a registered widget area. It does not have to appear visually at the side of the layout.

When to Use This Skill

• Registering widget areas with register_sidebar().
• Creating sidebar.php or sidebar-{name}.php.
• Rendering dynamic_sidebar().
• Checking empty widget area behavior.
• Migrating hardcoded footer/header content to user-manageable widget areas.
• Reviewing widget markup semantics and REST exposure.

Register Widget Areas

Register widget areas on widgets_init.