Eliminate the Sidebar in WordPress

Tired of the sidebar on your WordPress website taking up space and diverting your visitors’ attention? If you are, then you’re in luck! In this article, we will guide you on how to remove the sidebar from your WordPress theme.

Removing the Sidebar from Individual Pages and Posts

Many WordPress themes come with built-in options for removing sidebars from individual pages and posts, or even your entire site. To check if your theme has this option, go to the Appearance » Customize section. Look for a ‘Sidebar’ or similar setting in the menu on the left. If you find it, select it and search for the settings to remove the sidebar. This could be a dropdown menu, thumbnail previews of different sidebar layouts, or some other setting.

If your theme doesn’t offer a ‘Sidebar’ option, try selecting the ‘Page’ or a similar section. Look for different layouts that eliminate the sidebar, such as ‘No sidebar’ or ‘Full Width / Stretched’. Apply the desired layout to your site by clicking on a thumbnail.

Removing the Sidebar Using Full Site Editing

If you’re using a block theme like Divi, you can remove the sidebar using Full Site Editing (FSE) and the block editor. This method allows you to remove sidebars across your entire site. To do this, go to Appearance » Editor. By default, the full site editor displays your theme’s home template. To remove the sidebar from a specific page, select either ‘Templates’, ‘Patterns’, or ‘Pages’. Choose the template or page where you want to remove the sidebar and click on the edit icon. Then, select the sidebar and click on the delete icon. Finally, remove the sidebar by clicking ‘Remove Column’ or a similar setting, and save your changes.

Editing Theme Files to Remove the Sidebar

For themes without built-in sidebar removal options, you can manually edit theme files to eliminate the sidebar. However, keep in mind that editing theme files directly may cause your changes to disappear when you update the theme. To prevent this, it’s recommended to create a child theme. Follow these steps:

1. Connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client or the file manager provided by your hosting provider.
2. Navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder and open the folder for your active theme.
3. Identify the template files that contain the sidebar. These may include index.php, page.php, single.php, archive.php, home.php, and others. Consult the WordPress template hierarchy guide to determine which files to edit.
4. Open each template file in a text editor like Notepad and find the line of code responsible for displaying the sidebar.

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

5. Delete this line of code to remove the sidebar from a specific template file.
6. Save the modified file and upload it back to your WordPress site.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for all template files that contain a sidebar.
8. Visit your website to see the changes.

Adjusting Content Area Width

If you remove the sidebar, the content area may retain its original width, leaving an empty space. To adjust the width of the content area, you’ll need to add custom CSS to your WordPress theme.

1. Go to Appearance » Customize.
2. Click on Additional CSS in the menu on the left.
3. Copy and paste the following CSS code into the code editor:

.content-area {
    width: 100%;
}

4. Click on the ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.
5. Visit your site to see the content area filling the available space.

Removing the Sidebar on Specific Pages with a Page Builder Plugin

If you only want to remove the sidebar on certain pages while keeping it on others, a page builder plugin like SeedProd can be useful. SeedProd allows you to design pages using a simple drag-and-drop editor and easily add or remove the sidebar.

1. Install and activate the SeedProd plugin from the WordPress repository.
2. Open the page builder editor for the page where you want to remove the sidebar.
3. Select the sidebar element and click on the delete icon to remove it.
4. If you want to remove the sidebar from your entire site, you can create a custom theme without sidebars using SeedProd. Follow our guide on creating custom pages in WordPress using SeedProd for detailed instructions.

Using Full-Width Templates

Some WordPress themes come with full-width page templates that don’t display the sidebar on either side of the content. You can use these templates to remove the sidebar from any page.

1. Open any page in the WordPress editor.
2. In the menu on the right, click on the link next to ‘Template’.
3. In the popup, open the dropdown menu and look for a full-width template.
4. If available, select the full-width template and apply it to the page.

If your theme doesn’t have a full-width template, you can create one manually:

1. Open a plain text editor like Notepad and paste the following code:

<?php
/*
 * Template Name: Full Width
 * Template Post Type: post, page, product
 */
?>

1. Save the file with the name full-width.php.
2. Connect to your site using an FTP client or the file manager provided by your hosting provider.
3. Navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and open the folder for your active theme.
4. Find the page.php file and open it in a text editor.
5. Copy everything after the <?php get_header(); ?> line and paste it into the full-width.php file.
6. Delete the line <?php get_sidebar(); ?> from the full-width.php file.
7. Save the file and upload it to your theme folder.
8. Apply the full-width template to any page by selecting it from the ‘Template’ dropdown menu.

Removing the Sidebar on Single Posts with Custom Templates

WordPress also allows you to create custom single post templates to remove the sidebar from specific posts. Here’s how:

1. Create a new template file using a text editor.
2. Copy and paste the following code into the file:

<?php
/* 
 * Template Name: Custom Single Post
 * Template Post Type: post
 * Template Post Type: page
 * Template Post Type: product
 */
?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

    <!-- Your post content goes here -->

<?php endwhile; ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

1. Save the file as custom-single-post.php.
2. Connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client or the file manager provided by your hosting provider.
3. Navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and open the folder for your active theme.
4. Find the single.php file and open it in a text editor.
5. Create a new file called custom-single-post.php and copy the entire content of single.php into it.
6. Delete the line of code <?php get_sidebar(); ?> from the custom-single-post.php file.
7. Save the file and upload it to your theme folder.
8. Now, when you create a new post, you can select the ‘Custom Single Post’ template to remove the sidebar.