Question

Is it possible to use widgets outside of the sidebar? When you assign them in the admin panel you have to drag them to your sidebar but I would like to implement a search function outside the sidebar. Can I do this?

Answer 1

Absolutely. This thread in the WordPress support forums should get you going. It creates a new widget area ready called Homepage that can then be used in any of your theme’s template files:

Your theme’s functions.php

if (function_exists('register_sidebar')) {
    register_sidebar(array(
        'name'=> 'Main',
        'id' => 'main',
        'before_widget' => '<div class="widget_box side">',
        'after_widget' => '</div>',
        'before_title' => '<h3>',
        'after_title' => '</h3>',
    ));
    register_sidebar(array(
        'name'=> 'Homepage',
        'id' => 'homepage',
        'before_widget' => '<div class="widget_box">',
        'after_widget' => '</div>',
        'before_title' => '<h3>',
        'after_title' => '</h3>',
    ));
}

The template file you want the Homepage widget in

<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar('Homepage')) : ?>

Alternatively, you can use the My Custom Widgets plugin to do the same thing.