How to add Footer Widgets to Any Wordpress Theme

I wanted to use widgets in the footer of my WordPress theme but my wordpress theme didn’t come with a footer-sidebar by default. I didn’t really wanted to change the theme just because of that. So I hacked the wordpress theme to introduce footer-sidebars. If you are looking for a tutorial that explains how you can add sidebars/widgets to the footer of your WordPress theme then keep reading.



There are really three main parts to introducing a footer sidebar/widget area in your theme:

1. Registering the Sidebar(s) in the WordPress Theme


2. Inserting the Sidebars In the WordPress Theme


3. Putting some style into the sidebars

WordPress has introduced a few new functions recently which makes it hard to write one tutorial that will cater for every theme out there. I have broken this tutorial into smaller sections to cater for the various different themes.