You could go to the Widgets section in WP Admin and assign at least one widget to the 13 widget areas. I’m too lazy for this. So I spend some time to create something that eases my life.

Go to WP Admin / Appearance / Thematic Options and hit the ‘Reset Widgets’ button. Then add the following code to your child theme’s functions.php:

function widget_args()
{
	return array (
	'before_widget' => thematic_before_widget(),
	'after_widget'  => thematic_after_widget(),
	'before_title'  => thematic_before_title(),
	'after_title'   => thematic_after_title()
	);
}

function wa_primary_aside()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('primary-aside');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Primary Aside', 'text' => 'This is the Primary Aside', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('primary-aside');
}

function wa_secondary_aside()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('secondary-aside');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Secondary Aside', 'text' => 'This is the Secondary Aside', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('secondary-aside');
}

function wa_subsidiary_open()
{
	echo '<div id="subsidiary">';
} 

function wa_1st_subsidiary()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('1st-subsidiary-aside');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => '1st Subsidiary Aside', 'text' => 'This is the 1st Subsidiary Aside', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('1st-subsidiary-aside');
}

function wa_2nd_subsidiary()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('2nd-subsidiary-aside');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => '2nd Subsidiary Aside', 'text' => 'This is the 2nd Subsidiary Aside', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('2nd-subsidiary-aside');
}

function wa_3rd_subsidiary()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('3rd-subsidiary-aside');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => '3rd Subsidiary Aside', 'text' => 'This is the 3rd Subsidiary Aside', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('3rd-subsidiary-aside');
}

function wa_subsidiary_close()
{
	echo '</div>';
} 

function wa_index_top()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('index-top');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Index Top', 'text' => 'This is the Index Top', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('index-top');
	}

function wa_index_insert()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('index-insert');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Index Insert', 'text' => 'This is the Index Insert', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('index-insert');
}

function wa_index_bottom()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('index-bottom');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Index Bottom', 'text' => 'This is the Index Bottom', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('index-bottom');
}

function wa_single_top()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('single-top');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Single Top', 'text' => 'This is the Single Top', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('single-top');
}

function wa_single_insert()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('single-insert');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Single Insert', 'text' => 'This is the Single Insert', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('single-insert');
}

function wa_single_bottom()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('single-bottom');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Single Bottom', 'text' => 'This is the Single Bottom', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('single-bottom');
}

function wa_page_top()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('page-top');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Page Top', 'text' => 'This is the Page Top', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('page-top');
}

function wa_page_bottom()
{
	echo thematic_before_widget_area('page-bottom');
	the_widget('WP_Widget_Text', array('title' => 'Page Bottom', 'text' => 'This is the Page Bottom', 'filter' => ''), widget_args());
	echo thematic_after_widget_area('page-bottom');
}

add_action('widget_area_primary_aside', 'wa_primary_aside', 10);
add_action('widget_area_secondary_aside', 'wa_secondary_aside', 10);
add_action('widget_area_subsidiaries', 'wa_subsidiary_open', 10);
add_action('widget_area_subsidiaries', 'wa_1st_subsidiary', 30);
add_action('widget_area_subsidiaries', 'wa_2nd_subsidiary', 50);
add_action('widget_area_subsidiaries', 'wa_3rd_subsidiary', 70);
add_action('widget_area_subsidiaries', 'wa_subsidiary_close', 90);
add_action('widget_area_index_top', 'wa_index_top', 10);
add_action('widget_area_index_insert', 'wa_index_insert', 10);
add_action('widget_area_index_bottom', 'wa_index_bottom', 10);
add_action('widget_area_single_top', 'wa_single_top', 10);
add_action('widget_area_single_insert', 'wa_single_insert', 10);
add_action('widget_area_single_bottom', 'wa_single_bottom', 10);
add_action('widget_area_page_top', 'wa_page_top', 10);
add_action('widget_area_page_bottom', 'wa_page_bottom', 10);

This code will not assign any widget to the widget areas. So it’s nothing to test any logic behind the widgets or widget areas. It’ll simulate the process using the_widget().

The link id and the class are not working properly. I could make both items static and fix this issue, but I left this part as it is, if you want to filter thematic_before_widget(), thematic_after_widget(), thematic_before_title() and thematic_after_title.

This should be good enough to get a feeling for the locations of the several widget areas and to test the design / layout of your child theme.

Just copy the following code into your child theme’s functions.php:

function remove_widgetized_area($content) {
	unset($content['Secondary Aside']);
	return $content;
}
add_filter('thematic_widgetized_areas', 'remove_widgetized_area');

Here’s a list of the default widget areas:

• 'Primary Aside'
• 'Secondary Aside'
• '1st Subsidiary Aside'
• '2nd Subsidiary Aside'
• '3rd Subsidiary Aside'
• 'Index Top'
• 'Index Insert'
• 'Index Bottom'
• 'Single Top'
• 'Single Insert'
• 'Single Bottom'
• 'Page Top'
• 'Page Bottom'

Please use the ThemeShaper Forums for any further questions.

In my example for this task, I’m going to remove the sidebar from my page ‘Forum’.

The major requirement for this and all other code snippets: You have to use a child theme!

We start with the child theme’s functions.php and add the following code:

// filter thematic_sidebar() .. no display for the page 'Forum', keep it for the rest
function remove_sidebar() {
 // We test if we are on the page 'Forum'
 if (is_page('forum')) {
 // Yes, we are .. now we switch off the sidebar
 return FALSE;
 } else {
 // we are not .. we leave the switch on
 return TRUE;
 }
}
// Connect the filter to thematic_sidebar()
add_filter('thematic_sidebar', 'remove_sidebar');

Now that we’re able to switch off the sidebar for the page ‘Forum’, we need to make the gained space available for our content.

We open the child theme’s style.css and add the following code:

body.slug-forum #container {
 width: 960px;
}

body.slug-forum #content {
 width: 940px;
}

Please note that this modification is related to the 2c-r-fixed layout. You might want to change the width settings according to your own design.

You can modify the conditions in remove_sidebar() to your needs … more details about <a title=”WordPress – Conditional Tags” href=”http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags” target=”_self”>Conditional Tags</a>.

Tested with<a title=”Thematic, A WordPress Theme Framework” href=”http://themeshaper.com/thematic/”> Thematic 0.9</a> and a basic child theme.

Please use the <a title=”ThemeShaper Forums” href=”http://themeshaper.com/forums/”>ThemeShaper Forums</a> for any further questions.