An issue with register_sidebar and the admin interface

Question

Okay, I'm sure there is an simple explanation for this problem... it's just that I can't see it right now.

Here is my code adding widget sidebars:

add_action('widgets_init', 'starter_register_sidebars');

function starter_register_sidebars() {

register_sidebar(array(
    'id' => 'sidebar',
    'name' => __('Sidebar'),
    'description' => 'The first (primary) sidebar.',
    'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
    'after_widget' => '</div>',
    'before_title' => '<h4 class="widgettitle">',
    'after_title' => '</h4>',
    ));

register_sidebar(array(
    'name' => __('Main Sidebar'),
    'id' => 'sidebar-1',
    'before_widget' => '<aside id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
    'after_widget' => "</aside>",
    'before_title' => '<h3 class="widget-title">',
    'after_title' => '</h3>',
    ));

}

So when I go the admin widget area it tells me: 'Drag widgets from here to a sidebar on the right to activate them'

But there is not sidebar on the right created by the above code... I've looked at a couple of other themes at what they do, and it's not obvious what they are doing differently from me

Answer 1

Looks like the problem is with the id's.

Try putting some unique names.
For example, this doesn't works in TwentyEleven, as it registers a sidebar with the same ID:

'name' => __('Main Sidebar'),
'id' => 'sidebar-1',

From the Codex:

id - Sidebar id - Must be all in lowercase, with no spaces (default is a numeric auto-incremented ID).