How to Move a Sidebar Menu From One Side of Your Site to the Other Side

icon1 Posted by Rochelle in How To... on 06 24th, 2008 | 8 responses

 

If you have a Build A Niche Store (BANS) that has a sidebar menu on one side of your store but you would rather have it on the other side, then keep reading. You may be surprised at how simple this is.

This will be easiest to achieve if you are using a template that has sidebars on both the left and right, so my instructions will be based on using this type of template.

There are some mods that are very easy to do, but not so easy to tell how to do. This is one of those mods. There are a few variables that will make writing these instructions challenging for me, but they are not a reflection of difficulty in your doing this mod. These instructions may look difficult but they really aren’t, especially after you have done it a few times.

1. You need to know where the menu you want to move is currently located:

  • If the menu you want to move is currently on the left side of your template, then it is located in the header.php.
  • If the menu you want to move is currently on the right side of your template, then it is located in the footer.php.

2. You need to know the name of the menu you want. The following are the default template names, but you may have renamed them. If you changed your names then look for whatever you named them, not the default terms:

  • Content pages menu = <h2>Site Navigation</h2>
  • Store pages menu = <h2>Store Navigation</h2>
  • Sponsored links menu = <h2>Sponsored Links</h2>
 

My instructions to move a sidebar menu from one side to the other:

Step One
 Determine if the menu you want to move (i.e. Store Pages menu or Content Pages menu) is currently located on the left or right side of your template. If the location is currently on the left, then you will go to the header.php after you log in to your Admin below. If the location is on the right, then you will go to the footer.php.
 
  • If the menu you want to move is currently on the left side of your template, then it is located in the header.php.
  • If the menu you want to move is currently on the right side of your template, then it is located in the footer.php.
  
 Log in to your site’s Admin and click on the ‘Template‘ tab and ‘header.php‘ or ‘footer.php‘ link, as determined above, for the template you are using.
  
 Save a copy of the original code (click here for instructions on how to do this).
Step Two
 Search for the menu you want to move. Copy and cut the code for that menu from the header.php or footer.php (this will remove the following codes from the the header or footer – if you simply copy but don’t cut the codes then they will be repeated on both sides of your template):
  For the Content pages menu copy and cut:
   <h2>Site Navigation</h2>
<ul>
<?=$front->pagenav();?>
</ul>
  For the Store pages menu copy and cut:
   <h2>Store Navigation</h2>
<ul>
<?=$front->pagenav();?>
</ul> 
  For the Sponsored links menu copy and cut:
   <h2>Sponsored Links </h2>
<ul>
<?=$front->pagenav();?>
</ul>
  
 Save changes and view site for errors. You should not be able to see the menu you are in the process of moving. If you do see it, then you probably copied but didn’t cut the code.
Step Three
 Still in the ‘Templates‘ tab, click the location you want to move the menu to (if you removed the code from the header.php, then click the footer.php link, and vice versa).
  
 Save a copy of the original code (click here for instructions on how to do this).
  
 Search for the code that matches the file you are in and paste your copied code directly UNDER the appropriate code:
  For the header.php file search for:
   <div id=”sidebar”>
  For the footer.php file search for:
   <div id=”sidebarright”>
 Example: If you copied the Content pages menu code from header.php and paste it into footer.php, the code you see in footer.php will now look like this:
 

<div id=”sidebarright”>
<h2>Site Navigation</h2>
<ul>
<?=$front->pagenav();?>
</ul>

  
 Save changes and view site for errors. You should now be able to see the menu you moved.
.

See? The instructions look harder than this actually is.

Once you get the hang of this you can move other aspects of your menus. Would you rather have your sponsored links above your content pages? You can do that by moving the sponsored link code ABOVE the content pages code. And so on.

Rochelle

8 Responses to “How to Move a Sidebar Menu From One Side of Your Site to the Other Side”

  1. Denise says:
    June 24, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    Thanks Rochelle for these instructions. Very easy to do (even for me!) with your clear instructions.

    Thanks again.

    Denise

  2. Shelley says:
    June 26, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    Hi Rochelle,

    Thanks for your instructions on this.
    Your time and effort is much appreciated.

    Regards

    Shelley

  3. JeffLeft says:
    June 27, 2008 at 10:31 am

    Hey Rochelle, IS there a way to have another “content” section on the oposite side?

    Sometimes the content section has so many links.. AND sometimes i want to put a totally different set of links on the right side..

    THanks!

  4. JeffLeft says:
    June 27, 2008 at 10:33 am

    i guess i need to clarify what i just commented, after reading it..

    i want to keep the content area on the left and not move it.. i want to add another content area on the right side..

    thanks!

  5. Rochelle says:
    June 28, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Do you mean you want to have two content areas, one on each side, each with different links?

    Rochelle

  6. JeffLeft says:
    June 29, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    exactly!!

  7. Rochelle says:
    June 29, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Jeff,

    There is a way to do what you are asking but I can’t find the information. Directions on this are somewhere in the BANS forum, but I’m not sure where. Have fun searching for it (said with tongue in cheek…)

    Rochelle

  8. JeffLeft says:
    July 1, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    hahah, yeah that’s like finding a needle in a FIELD of haystacks :)
    maybe i’ll stumble across it..

    thanks!!!!!

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