These instructions assume you have a basic understanding of php, html & css and understand how to successfully create your own Dokuwiki template.

1. Copy the two sidebar files, tplfn_sidebar.php & sidebar.css in template-sidebar-rc2006-09-28.zip¹⁾, to your template folder.
2. Edit tplfn_sidebar.php, uncomment line 14~18, and modify content to you want.²⁾
3. Make the following additions/changes to your template's main.php file:
   • Near the top of your template's main.php file and within the <?php ?> tags add the following:

     // include functions that provide sidebar functionality
     @require_once('tplfn_sidebar.php');
      
     // determine the sidebar class
     $sidebar_class = "sidebar_{$conf['sidebar']['layout']}_{$conf['sidebar']['orientation']}";

   • Within the <head> element and adjacent to any existing style sheet <link> add the following line:

       <link rel="stylesheet" media="screen" type="text/css" href="<?php echo DOKU_TPL; ?>sidebar.css" />

   • Change the <body> tag to

     <body class="<?php echo $sidebar_class; ?>">

     Note: If your <body> tag already has a class modify the body tag as to look similar to:

     <body class="myclass <?php echo $sidebar_class; ?>">

     .

   • At the appropriate place within your template add the following line³⁾ to display the sidebar:

     <div id="sidebar"><?php tpl_sidebar_content(); ?></div>

     The sidebar comes styled so that the above line can be placed between the closing </div> of div.content and <div class='clearer'>&nbsp;</div>

4. alter the sidebar styles as desired.