This post is to help people quickly remove sidebars in bbPress.

Here are the steps:

1. Download: Replace Text

This is a simple program that lets you batch edit documents.

2. Take all of the files from: /bbpress/bbp-themes/bbp-twentyten (http://imgur.com/XSWtH) and save them to your computer.

3. Drag these files into Replace Text and replace: get_sidebar with //get_sidebar. All you’re doing is commenting out the sidebar. There should be about one change per file.

Upload these changed files and you should be good to go. You will have to do this again after upgrading but it only takes a few minutes.

[John James JacobyKeymaster @johnjamesjacoby 11 months, 1 week ago]

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is actually a really poor way to go this.

Never modify bbPress core files.

Instead, copy them from bbp-twentyten/bbpress and place them in a /bbpress folder in a child theme of your current theme. Then, modify the new copies.

If you want to get rid of the sidebar completely, then make a copy of bbp-twentyten in your /themes folder, remane the theme to something else, and start hacking the same way as above.

Again; Never modify bbPress core files.

[SyndicateParticipant @syndicate 11 months, 1 week ago]

Cool.. I just learned about Child themes. Now I feel like a noob.. but thanks for clearing that up.

[SyndicateParticipant @syndicate 11 months, 1 week ago]

Crap.. you’re smart. Thanks for the fast reply too.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by  Syndicate.

[Rene MichaelsMember @rene-michaels 11 months, 1 week ago]

JJJ,

Is it not possible to copy the “bbp-theme-compat” theme, removing the sidebars there, and then uploading it as a child theme? I like the default style and just want to remove the sidebars without reworking the entire “bbp-twentyten” CSS.

If so, how/where would I tweak bbp-theme-compat theme to remove the sidebars?

Seems to me removing sidebars should be an option in the bbPress admin no?

[pimartsParticipant @pimarts 11 months, 1 week ago]

I posted this in another topic, this works for me:

function disable_all_widgets( $sidebars_widgets ) {       
    if ( function_exists('is_bbpress') ) {
        if (is_bbpress()) {
            $sidebars_widgets = array(false);
            remove_all_actions('bp_register_widgets');
            unregister_sidebar( 'bp_core_widgets' );
        }
    }
    return $sidebars_widgets;
}

add_filter('sidebars_widgets', 'disable_all_widgets', 1, 1);

But that’s because I haven’t looked into custom themes yet. Did everything with functions and CSS at the moment.

[camingParticipant @caming 11 months, 1 week ago]

pimarts,

if that’s the case, that must be the easiest solution yet — but where does it go, exactly? I’ve placed it in the bbpress childtheme with no luck. is it in the core?

thanks!

[LynqParticipant @lynq 11 months, 1 week ago]

@pimarts
If you have a sidebar container does that function remove that aswell or just the widgets inside it?

[pimartsParticipant @pimarts 11 months, 1 week ago]

Ok, a litle more info:

I run a bbPress + BuddyPress installation. And I put that function in the functions.php file of my WordPress theme.

It would remove the widgets inside. If needed you could remove the rest of the / entire sidebar with CSS. The advantage over a simple CSS hide is the fact that less code gets written to the browser / less code to download for the user.

Aside from that I use it to put the login widget at the top of the forums (with CSS) and remove all the other widgets.