Widgets appear at bottom of sidebar, instead of top

  • Unknown's avatar
    thepointfitchburgstate · Member ·

    I have the same problem as someone else, but mine could not be resolved in the same way. My sidebar widgets have suddenly started appearing on the bottom of the sidebar, instead of the top.

    I did what the support staff had suggested for the previous poster, limiting my posts per page to 1 and then seeing if a post had fautly coding. Unfortunately, the sidebar stayed at the bottom for all of my posts, which supposedly means faulty HTML coding in a widget. However, I never added coding to a widget and nothing about them was changed – they apparently shifted on their own.

    The response I read did not say what to do if the widgets are the problem.
    My blog URL is: http://www.thepointfitchburgstate.wordpress.com.
    Thanks,
    Doris

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    The reason your sidebar has fallen and is displaying below your posts is either due to copying and pasting or it can also be a result of importing text containing invalid HTML.

    Typically this is caused by an open HTML tag in one of your posts or in a text widget. You must locate it and close it.

    Go to Settings > Writing and select “ ___ WordPress should correct invalidly nested XHTML automatically” and then scroll down and click “Save Changes.”

    Now, starting with your latest post, open it in the editor, make one minor change such as adding a space and then deleting it, and then click “Update Post.” Check your blog and see if it is back to normal.

    If it’s not, then look for an open HTML tag and close it. Check your blog again and see if it is back to normal. If it’s still “messed up” then open the next post and do the same thing post by post until it goes back to normal.

    If you have been copying and pasting text from elsewhere without using either icon 5 or icon 6 in Row 2 of the visual editor, please see here so you know how to do this correctly in the future. http://en.support.wordpress.com/visual-editor/#pasting-text

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Also note that I viewed your blog using Firefox 6.0.2 and I do not see this problem happening. You could have a browser or Flash related issue. Have you tried any troubleshooting?
    1. Clear your browser cache and cookies.
    2. Upgrade your browser version if it’s out dated.
    3. Is your Flash up to date? If not you can update your Flash version here.
    4. Which browser and version of it are you using? Have you tried another browser?

  • Unknown's avatar
    thepointfitchburgstate · Member ·

    Thanks so much for your quick reply. I changed the “correct automatically” setting and then updated the last 10 posts as directed, but the widgets are still at the bottom.

    So now the next step is to look for an open HTML tag – but I don’t know what an open tag looks like. Is there a character that all tags end with, or it it possible to give a brief description?
    Thanks again.

  • Unknown's avatar
    thepointfitchburgstate · Member ·

    Oh – I just saw your note about the browser. I’ll try this from another computer to see if it really is a problem.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    This is an example of an open HTML tag
    <div>
    This is an example of the closed tag
    </div>

    For every open HTML tag there must be a closed tag. Open the HTML editor in that post and look for an open tag then close it and click “update”.

  • Unknown's avatar
    thesacredpath · Member ·

    I’m seeing the sidebar where it should be in Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera. I also ran an XHTML validation report on your site and see nothing that would cause the sidebar to go to the bottom of your site.

    What browser and browser version are you seeing this problem with?

    Have you tried logging out, clearing your browser cache and cookies, restarting your browser and then taking another look?

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    ~~TSP
    Hello again. :)

    @thepointfitchburgstate
    I have viewed your site using Firefox 6.01. and also using IE8 and cannot detect this problem. I am viewing normal displays in both browsers. Please try the troubleshooting I posted above > https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/widgets-appear-at-bottom-of-sidebar-instead-of-top?replies=7#post-693799

  • Unknown's avatar
    thepointfitchburgstate · Member ·

    You’re right, my browser is the problem; I’ve looked at it on several other computers, and it looks fine, so I guess this problem is resolved.
    Thanks again for the prompt, to-the-point assistance. Now that I know how to recognize an open HTML tag, and have the incentive to update my browser, I’m actually coming out of this ahead of the game.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    You’re welcome. Thanks for letting us know this has been resolved and best wishes with your blogging.

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