[wp-hackers] dynamic_content?

[Lynne Pope]

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 5:20 AM, Baki Goxhaj <banago at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi hackers,
>
> It's quite a while now that every time I mean to use the dynamic_sidebar()
> functions I end up using dynamic_content() and I only get aware when I get
> an error message on the browsers.
>
> Don't you share the same feeling with me that it's time to generalise a
> little the dynamic_sidebar() function since widgets have really site wide
>  use?


I wouldn't like to see this changed. Sidebars are just content and have
always been able to be placed anywhere in a site. I can see how confusion
can arise for people who only ever use dynamic_sidebar() for menus or other
supplementary content to be displayed along the side of a page. This kind of
use could lead some people into thinking the name refers to a side of a
page.

Although I don't know the background to the reasons this name was chosen,
its an appropriate name for the function it serves. The definition of
"sidebar" is:
a : a short news story or graphic accompanying and presenting sidelights of
a major story
b : something incidental : sidelight <a sidebar to the essay's central
theme>
If you think of the meaning of "sidebar" and don't think of it as
necessarily being on the side of a page then its much easier to understand.

I'm firmly in the camp of, "if it aint broke, don't fix it" and prefer to
leave names alone.

Lynne