Content Sidebars
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!
Consider an alternative
Content Sidebars shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 2/5 and was last updated 2 years ago, and scores 21/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 2 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.5 (latest is 7.1)
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Content Sidebars stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| content area | >100 |
| content sidebar | >100 |
| sidebars | >100 |
| widget areas | >100 |
| widgets | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 2 from 1 reviews
About Content Sidebars
From the official readme · v1.7.0Description
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,
Design Layout flexibility and sex drive all in one plugin (wait no, forget that last one.)
- 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
(with title etc.) – 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
Installation
- Upload
content-sidebars.zipvia the Plugins upload page. - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Visit the Appearance -> Content Sidebars menu to configure the plugin.
- Refer to Frequently Asked Questions for configurations notes.
Frequently asked questions
How do I use this plugin?
Once activated your will have additional Widget Areas available via Appearance -> Widgets. You can change your Content Sidebar Settings via Appearance -> Content Sidebars. There are other Plugin Options relating to the different types of Sidebars (explained below.) You can change PerPost Sidebar Display options via the post writing/editing screen Metabox. You can use filters or plugins to change the Sidebar output conditions (see last question.)
What are the Shortcodes for the Shortcode Sidebars?
The shortcode Sidebars are inserted using the relevent shortcode for that Sidebar. eg. [shortcode-sidebar-1] or [shortcode-sidebar-2] or [shortcode-sidebar-3] They can be inserted anywhere in your posts using these shortcodes. If you want to insert them in a template or code, you can use, for example:
How do I style the resulting Sidebars?
You can change the CSS for any of the Content Sidebars on the settings page. There is some default CSS already to help with some general styles and fixes. The relevent CSS IDs and classes for the different Sidebar types and widgets are: (also in a table on the Content Sidebars settings page for easy reference.) | Sidebar ID --------| Sidebar Class ----| Widget Class -------| Widget Title Class ---------------------.-------------------.---------------------.------------------- #abovecontentsidebar | .contentsidebar - | .abovecontentwidget | .abovecontenttitle #belowcontentsidebar |…
How do I set up the ‘Above Content’ and ‘Below Content’ Sidebar positioning?
The main Content Sidebars can be positioned by one of two methods of your choice. Either via Template Action Hooks or via the Content Filter. The Content Filter method is easier and faster to setup, but less flexible (read on for why.) The Content Filter method works for ANY theme, as it adds the sidebars to the_content(). You can adjust the priorities so they can ‘fit’ in with other end-of-post features such as Related Posts. The default is for absolute before (first) and absolute end (last.) The limitation of the Content Filter method is that for the ‘Above Content’ Sidebar it cannot…
How do I use the ‘Login’ Sidebar?
The primary purpose of the ‘Login’ Sidebar is to allow users to login of course. As such, it will not show for a Logged In User in any case. If your site accepts user registrations in any capacity, having somewhere obvious to login can be a good idea. You can alays use a conditional Login Widget in your main Sidebar of course, but this way the Login Widget can be handled separately and positioned differently (eg. across the page, above/below navbar.) Just drop in a Login Widget into the Login Sidebar (such as a Theme My Login Widget) on your Appearance – Widgets page and then position the…
How do I use the ‘Logged In’ Sidebar?
The ‘Logged In’ or ‘Members’ fallback Sidebar is available for showing different content to Logged In Users. This means you can either hide Join / Signup / Register Widgets for registered users if they are logged in, or show the alternative contents of this Sidebar. This Sidebar can be used as a fallback for either the Above Content, Below Content and/or Login Sidebars. In other words, it will show instead of any of those sidebars (if you have ‘Fallback’ ticked next to that Sidebar in your settings) – for any Logged In User of any role (WordPress user logged into your site that is!) This is…
How do I use the ‘InPost’ Sidebars?
The InPost Sidebars are inserted automatically into the Post Types that you choose on the Settings page. You can choose 1 to 3 Sidebars and the paragraph positions where the Sidebars will display, and Widgets in these Sidebars will automatically display after these positions. Posts which do not have enough paragraphs for that sidebar position will not output it. (These Sidebars are disabled by default so don’t forget to uncheck the disable checkboxes.) You can also set a Content Marker to split paragraphs with (default is ) and the priority of sidebar content filter is available for…
How do I use Shortcodes within Text Widgets?
A very flexible way of adding custom content to your Sidebars is through using a Shortcode within a Text Widget. In order to do so, you need to make sure the WordPress shortcode filter is applied to the widget_text content. Here is what this code looks like: You can activate this code from the Settings page for widget text (and optionally widget titles.) Once you know that is in place, you can add any shortcode to a Text Widget and it will be used to display the return value of the executed shortcode, eg. for [my-custom-shortcode] You may also want to use the Discreet Text Widget for this…
How do I use filter individual Widgets for different conditions?
Content Sidebars now includes options for displaying on different custom post types, as well as specific archive conditions (archive, tag, category, taxonomy, date, author) and other special conditions (front page, home page, 404 pages, search pages) If you want more control, you can combine with a conditional widget plugin, so you can drop those Widgets in the Sidebars of your choice to display a Widget conditionally in any of these new Sidebar areas for different purposes. ie. posts or pages or CPTs or other conditions. eg. [Widget Logic Plugin], [Display Widgets Plugin], etc
How do I use filter Sidebars for different conditions?
For a more advanced or custom setup you can modify any of the Plugin Settings via Filters. For consistency these filters have the same key as the plugin settings. The full list of settings (and thus filters) can be seen in the plugin setting initialization list. For example, you can disable a sidebar according to conditions using these filters: csidebars_abovecontent_disable, csidebars_belowcontent_disable csidebars_login_disable, csidebars_member_disable csidebars_shortcode_sidebar1, csidebars_shortcode_sidebar2, csidebars_shortcode_sidebar3 csidebars_inpost_sidebar1…
Changelog
1.7.0
- Update to Plugin Panel 1.3.0
- Update to Freemius SDK 2.7.2
- Fixed: Note formatting on widget page
1.6.9
- Update to Plugin Panel 1.2.9
- Update to Freemius SDK 2.5.10
- Update to WordQuest Helper 1.8.2
1.6.8
- Upgrade to Plugin Panel 1.2.2
- Update to Freemius SDK 2.4.3
- Add Shortcodes for Content and Guest/Member Sidebars
- Fix to Plugin Settings saving
1.6.7
- Update to Plugin Panel 1.1.8
- Update to WordQuest Helper 1.7.8
- Update to Freemius SDK 2.4.1
- Improved to WordPress Coding Standards
- Various Minor Bugfixes
1.6.6
- Updated to Plugin Loader Class 1.0.7
- Updated Freemius SDK 2.3.0
- Updated to WordQuest Helper 1.7.5
1.6.5
- Updated to use new Plugin Loader Class 1.0.6
- Updated to Freemius SDK 2.2.2
- Updated to WordQuest Helper 1.7.4
- Added reset to defaults button / function
- Added separate shortcode disable filter
- Added and synced plugin structure list
- Fix to update last settings saved time
- Fix for AJAX method to load CSS setting
- Check/fix to widget styles page conditions
- Only add widget count on widget.php page
- Removed old fcs_ prefixed filters
Screenshots
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FAQ
Content Sidebars: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 15, 2026
Is Content Sidebars free?
Yes. Content Sidebars is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Content Sidebars safe to use in 2026?
Content Sidebars shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 2/5 and was last updated 2 years ago, and scores 21/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Content Sidebars?
Content Sidebars is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,135 times since it launched in February 2017. It was downloaded 68 times in the last 30 days.
Does Content Sidebars work with WordPress 7.1?
Content Sidebars is officially tested up to WordPress 6.5.13, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Content Sidebars last updated?
The latest version, 1.7.0, was released on July 10, 2024 (2 years ago).
Who makes Content Sidebars?
Content Sidebars is developed and maintained by Tony Hayes.
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