Custom Widget Area for Home page – Agency Theme

[Greg W]

Hi Everyone

I am trying to work out the right way to add a custom widget to my home page for the Agency theme. I want to be able to put in a regular content area that sits  in between the 3 home widgets and above the footer widgets.

I have already registered my new widget. I tried using hooks but I need to get in between the home widgets and the footer widget areas.

My regsiter code:
genesis_register_sidebar( array(
'id' => 'home-featured-content',
'name' => __( 'Home Featured Content', 'agency' ),
'description' => __( 'This is the home featured content section.', 'agency' ),
) );
I tried putting my code for the widget inside function agency_home_loop_helper() and it works but I am not sure if this is the best way to do this.

Here is where I put my code:

function agency_home_loop_helper() {

if ( is_active_sidebar( 'home-left' ) || is_active_sidebar( 'home-middle' ) || is_active_sidebar( 'home-right' ) ) {

echo '<div id="home">';

echo '<div class="home-left">';
dynamic_sidebar( 'home-left' );
echo '</div><!-- end .home-left -->';

echo '<div class="home-middle">';
dynamic_sidebar( 'home-middle' );
echo '</div><!-- end .home-middle -->';

echo '<div class="home-right">';
dynamic_sidebar( 'home-right' );
echo '</div><!-- end .home-right -->';

echo '</div><!-- end #home -->';

}

// ------------------------------------ code for my custom widget to show here
if ( is_active_sidebar( 'home-featured-content' ) ) {
echo '<div id="home-featured-content">';
dynamic_sidebar( 'home-featured-content' );
echo '</div><!-- end .home-featured -->';
}

}

Should I add a new structural wrap? If I do, how would I target this in my home.php file? The examples I have tried so far only allow for 'before' or 'after' or putting it in to an existing function.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Brad Dalton]

You can add it to a custom function in your child theme.

You'd need to add a conditional tag and use different code. http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags

is_home() or is_front_page()

Here's some sample code:

You can change the hook location. Here's visual reference of where the hooks output your widget content http://genesistutorials.com/visual-hook-guide/

More code for custom widgets and Genesis child theme customization https://gist.github.com/5351168

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

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