EP Sidebar
EP Sidebar activates PageMotor’s built-in sidebar layout and gives you an admin UI to manage which widgets appear in it. Sidebars can be site-wide or per-page. Widget types include recent posts, text blocks, menu, RSS feed, and custom HTML.
Published by ElmsPark Studio.
Overview
Section titled “Overview”- Enable the sidebar for your active theme. PageMotor supports sidebar layouts natively; this plugin makes them configurable.
- Widget management — drag-and-drop arrangement of widgets.
- Per-page sidebar toggle — some pages have sidebars, some don’t.
- Widget types:
- Text/HTML. Arbitrary content.
- Menu. A navigation menu.
- Recent posts. Most recent blog posts.
- RSS feed. External feed content.
- Shortcode. Runs any shortcode inside the widget.
Requirements
Section titled “Requirements”- PageMotor 0.8.2b or later
- EP Suite base class
- A theme that supports sidebar layouts (most PageMotor themes do).
Installation
Section titled “Installation”- Download
ep-sidebar.zipfrom the EP Suite downloads page. - Upload via Plugins → Manage Plugins. Activate.
- Open your Theme’s configuration and enable the sidebar layout.
- Go to Plugin Settings → EP Sidebar → Widgets to add widgets.
Adding widgets
Section titled “Adding widgets”From the Widgets panel:
- Click Add Widget.
- Pick a widget type.
- Configure it — text body, menu selection, feed URL, shortcode name, etc.
- Save.
- Drag to reorder. Order is top-to-bottom in the sidebar.
Per-page control
Section titled “Per-page control”On any page’s content options:
- Show sidebar. On / off / use site default.
If off, the page renders without a sidebar even though the theme supports it. Useful for landing pages where you want full-width focus.
Widget type details
Section titled “Widget type details”Text/HTML
Section titled “Text/HTML”Free-form block. Use for “About this site”, contact info, legal notices, anything static.
Pick from the menus you’ve defined in your theme. Renders the menu items in the sidebar. Good for a “Categories” list or a secondary navigation.
Recent posts
Section titled “Recent posts”Shows the most recent N posts (configurable count). Filter by category if you have them.
RSS feed
Section titled “RSS feed”Paste a feed URL. Widget shows the feed title and latest N items. Useful for embedding your podcast feed, a partner’s blog, etc.
Shortcode
Section titled “Shortcode”Wraps any shortcode in a widget. Examples:
[newsletter-form]— subscription form in the sidebar.[ep-analytics]or similar custom shortcodes.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”“Sidebar doesn’t appear on my site”
Section titled ““Sidebar doesn’t appear on my site””Check the theme’s layout is set to include a sidebar. EP Sidebar activates the layout but the theme has to support it. Some landing-page themes deliberately don’t.
“Widgets show in admin but nothing on the front end”
Section titled ““Widgets show in admin but nothing on the front end””Check Per-page Show sidebar isn’t set to off globally. Also double-check the theme layout.
“RSS widget is empty”
Section titled ““RSS widget is empty””The feed URL is unreachable, or the feed is malformed. Test the feed URL in a browser — should see XML.
“Menu widget shows the wrong items”
Section titled ““Menu widget shows the wrong items””Your menu was updated but the widget still references the old one. Re-pick the menu in the widget settings.
Feedback and corrections
Section titled “Feedback and corrections”For a quick question about this plugin, EP Support inside your admin is the fastest option. The chat widget sits on every EP plugin settings page and knows which one you’re on, with starter questions and links preloaded for that exact screen.
For anything bigger — a bug report, a feature request, or a “how do I…” that needs a real reply — open a ticket at help.elmspark.com. A real person, helped by AI, writes the reply. Usually within a few hours. Tickets don’t disappear into the void.