New Theme Feature: Sidebar Width

[jeherve]

WordPress already allows theme developers to define a $content_width value in their themes (​ref). I think it would be useful if they could define a $sidebar_width as well. It would them become possible for theme and plugin developers to make sure that sidebar elements like embeds or images fit the width of the sidebar.

Related: #21256

[philiparthurmoore]

I can't imagine a scenario in which I'd ever use this. Can you give a solid use case for something that normal CSS max width handling wouldn't cover?

[jeherve]

This could be useful to resize embeds for example, much like what we use $content_width value for today.

It would provide plugin authors with a value to use in their widgets, to make sure whatever element is added by their widget doesn't break the layout, even if the theme author didn't plan for that particular element in their CSS.

It can also allow you to serve elements that match the sidebar size; e.g you'd serve an image that matches the sidebar's width, instead of loading a very large image and resizing it with CSS.

[helen]

This seems like a pretty presumptive feature - exactly one sidebar? What is a sidebar other than a term for a layout element that these days can shift around and/or be flexible in width? How useful is content width right now, exactly?

[jeherve]

Replying to helen:

exactly one sidebar?

I didn't think about that. That point alone makes my idea stupid! :(

Never mind that ticket then!

[netweb]

Replying to jeherve:

Replying to helen:

exactly one sidebar?

I didn't think about that. That point alone makes my idea stupid! :(

I wouldn't go that far, sometimes a different perspective from another is all that is needed to point out things one may not have thought of :)

Never mind that ticket then!

Cool, closing.