[Resolved] Customizing Blog Templage For Only Home Page

[Bud]

Hi Tom

Very new to GP but I love it. I can’t believe the features you have packed into it. You really understand what people need and are light years ahead of everyone.

Your documentation is amazing. I looked everywhere for an answer to my question before I contacted you.

I’m handy with CSS not so much with PHP.

I’m working on a site that uses the standard blog template for the home page which is set to latest post. I have several category archive pages as well.

How do I change the blog template so that it will not display a sidebar and in its place I want to add a video just for the home page? (I want to leave the blog template as is for the category archive pages.)

Thank you so much.

Bud

[David]

Hi Bud,

Thanks for the great feedback.
you can use the Layout Element to remove the sidebar from different pages, in your case the Display rule would be the Front Page:

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/layout-element-overview/

But maybe a better alternative would be to use something like Content Aware Sidebars:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/content-aware-sidebars/

[Bud]

Hi David

Thanks for your quick response but that’s not the answer because we’re not dealing with a page but the post template. Seems like you need to add a filter or an action in functions.php to get this done.

I am familiar with Content Aware Sidebars but that won’t work for the same reason. i needto modify the blog template (probably index.php) which – as you know – has nothing to do with pages.

Bud

[David]

The Layout Element allows you to disable elements even on archives / blog pages / front page. Its not restricted like the meta box in the page editor. Problem is in removing the sidebar also removes the before_sidebar_content hook so we can’t add the video there.

I am not sure what the problem is with using a dynamic sidebar plugin? You could set the video to be only displayed for the front page and set the condtions for the other widgets?

[Bud]

David

I tried that before but ti does not work,

Here is what I just did.

1. Created a page and called it “blog”
2. Chose that page to be my post page. (I did not select any page to be Home Page as I need that to be the Home Page.
3. Tried changing to Layout options like no sidebars or sidebar/content but no matter which option is picked I get the default (content/sidebar).

Am I doing what you suggested?

If so, I will look into using CAS.

Bud

[Bud]

No need to reply for now.

Just had a look at CAS which I have used and I think that will do the trick.

IF not, I’ll have to get back to you.

Thanks for your help.

Bud

[David]

You’re welcome – keep us posted 🙂

[Bud]

David

Here is what I did after seeing the doc on sidebars.

#Removes sidebar home page (blog)

add_filter( ‘generate_sidebar_layout’,’bk_custom_home_sidebar_layout’ );
function bk_custom_home_sidebar_layout( $layout )
{
// If we are on the home page, set the sidebar
if ( is_home() )
return ‘no-sidebar’;

// Or else, set the regular layout
return $layout;

}

Then I set up a header element to include content below the primary and above the blog post excerpts.

Perfect. Just what I wanted.

I love GP and will use it on as many projects as I can.

Bud

[David]

Hi Bud,

that sounds great. Glad you found the solution.
You may want to investigate the Layout Element – which provides the same controls you have applied with the PHP.

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/layout-element-overview/

Unlike the Layout and Disable Elements meta in the post editor, which does not work on a blog or archive because WP ignores them, this does.

[Author]

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