Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

November 29, 2005

The Sidebar Is How Readers Know Things

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 9:33 am

Brian Shih of Brian Shih.com offers suggestions for Improving sidebar usability in his post on blog sidebar design.

Who wants to read about sidebars?

Think of your sidebar as a reader does, and you’ll soon enough realize that it’s a critical part of a blog. It’s your readers’ grounding point. The sidebar, after all, is how our readers know things–like who we are and what we offer.

In this well-researched post, Brian discusses the use of sidebar components, quoting experts and adding his own viewpoint to bring the article back down to the ground. He also takes examples from real-life–the blogs of Steve Rubel and Paul Stamatiou.

Though I disagree with Brian’s comments on a “popular posts” section–I’ve had great success with mine–this article is a solid review of design basics and worth the time of every reader–either as a first time hit or a quick reminder. That’s why I’m adding it to the Successful Blog Survival Kit.

Brian ends the post with his own thoughts on side bar usage. (Note the great example of a collaborative link–a thank you to a colleague for looking over the article.)

When WAS the last time you thought about your sidebar?

Thanks Brian for sharing this design post with us. A community blog needs to hear from many voices. I’m glad yours was one.

It’d be great to hear a response to what Brian brought to the table. So have a read, and come back to leave a comment. We’ve hardly talked design and navigation. What are your experiences with sidebars? Tell me what has worked on your blog?

Talk to me. Let’s discuss it. I get in trouble. when I’m alone. :)

ME “Liz” Strauss





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32 Comments to “The Sidebar Is How Readers Know Things”

  1. November 29th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
    Martin said

    It’s a difficult thing to get right the side bar - I know I’m never satisified with mine, always looking at tweaking it.

    There’s a balance between just the right information, not enough and way too much - many (like me) probably go with the ‘way too much’ side bar :-)

  2. November 29th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
    Gerard McGarry said

    There’s a Northern Irish website, The Levee Breaks which employs a few features that I like. Going in on the front page, you get the customary list of recent articles. In the sidebar you see a short “About” section, then a list of the most recent discussions.

    However, if you enter on a post page (say from a search engine), it drops the “About” paragraph and displays a list of the 10 most recent posts instead. Obviously, if you’ve entered on an older entry you then can see what’s currently going on without reverting to the homepage.

  3. November 29th, 2005 at 6:06 pm
    Brian Shih said

    Yeah, I’m a big fan of trimming down your sidebar when you’re not on the main page. It makes sense to focus on internal navigation when you’re looking at a specific post, and on top of that, if your sidebar is 10 times longer than the single post it looks really bad.

  4. November 29th, 2005 at 6:27 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Martin,
    I know what you mean about the side bar. It can fill up so quickly that it can overwhelm any reader and overpower the text.
    Balance everything’s about balance these days. Isn’t it?
    Liz

  5. November 29th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Gerard,
    I have mixed feelings about sidebars that change on different pages. I think of them as the one anchor that lets me feel secure that I can find my way back to where I want to be.
    Liz

  6. November 29th, 2005 at 6:34 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Brian,
    I’m thinking you’ve got a bit of designer in you. Good on you. White space is always good. I’m just wondering what the reader wants. It’s always about what the reader wants and needs in the end.
    I’m a pain about that. Aren’t I?
    Liz

  7. November 29th, 2005 at 6:41 pm
    Brian Shih said

    Haha, no it makes sense though. What’s the point in having a clean and sleek design if your readers can’t find there way anywhere.

    I really just meant you could cut things out that didn’t enable the readers to navigate around your site quickly. Search, latest posts, popular posts - those can all stay. del.icio.us links, about, friends, etc - those can probably be cut down to make the internal navigation clearer.

    By the way, your link to my site at the very top is broken and linking to http://www.brian.com - if only I had that domain too :)
    Brian

  8. November 29th, 2005 at 7:02 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey, Brian,
    Like I said the longer I know you the more I like you. I get what you’re saying. Sorry I misunderstood before. :(
    I’ve been having a day and a half with my computer.
    The link will be fixed before you can finish reading this.
    :)
    Liz

  9. November 29th, 2005 at 7:05 pm
    Brian Shih said

    Haha, thanks - no big deal. I’m half paying attention to this and half trying to get this FPGA up and running.

  10. November 29th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey, I’m very much liking having you around for the cheer and conversation.

  11. November 29th, 2005 at 7:22 pm
    Javier Cabrera said

    As I said on the Brian’s blog: At my blog, I got rid off the sidebar! I think the sidebar may be an excellent resource for some blogs, but I also think that having the content squised because you need to put 4 links and some little banner that says “rssâ€? isn’t good business for the user. Yes, the user actually want to read the sidebar, but the user also want to read short posts, so why don’t combine the two things, a great footer and short posts?

    That is what I did on CYM. I combined a big (and useful) footer with short posts (well, some of those, sometimes I get myself carry away for the subject!).

    I actually think sidebar is a must-have of any blog, but I also think it may be replaced with a good and useful footer.

    What do you guys think?

  12. November 29th, 2005 at 7:26 pm
    Jennifer Grucza said

    Hmm, my Perfect Fifths site doesn’t even have a sidebar! Part of that is because I wanted to start simple, focusing on content first, working on the design later (when I have time).

    I don’t think a sidebar is absolutely necessary if the links to more info are obvious, like in the header. Probably just putting them in the footer like I’ve done isn’t the best placement, but it’ll do for now. Actually, my site is a lot like Garrett Dimon’s (I guess his was an influence on mine).

  13. November 29th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Javier,
    So you made your sidebar into a footer. Why not leave a hotlink to your site and let us take a look. It sounds like a good idea that might work well in some cases. We should see it.
    Liz

  14. November 29th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
    Javier Cabrera said

    Well Jennifer, let me tell you: I can see the Garrett influence on your Perfect Fifths, but is updated! I think your website looks much more cooler than Garrets site! ;-)

    Love the brown color scheme! (I’m a flute player so I will be reading your blog!)

  15. November 29th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jennifer,
    I love the hmmmm sound of you thinking. How interesting that you comment at the same time as Javier. So you’ve put the information in the footer too? Well, I think we’re getting some great design discussion out of this post, Brian.

    I can’t wait to see.
    Liz

  16. November 29th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
    ME Strauss said

    You’re right, Jennifer, it not only works for you. It gives your blog a clean and memorable look. I see you’ve found some music forums, too. That’s cool.

    Javier’s right. Your blog is much more elegant than Garrett’s blog.

    Liz

  17. November 29th, 2005 at 8:13 pm
    Brian Shih said

    I responded to Javier over on my site, but I’ll paraphrase it over here. I agree that you don’t need a sidebar on your site at all. This was designed to help new users work on their sidebar since nearly every blogging platform template comes with one these days.

    That being said, if you don’t have one, just make sure the same kind of information is readily available for new users. Binary Bonsai is a great example of site without a sidebar that still makes it really easy to find your way around.

    I’m glad at least some people found it useful :)

    -Brian

  18. November 29th, 2005 at 8:15 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Brian,
    Congratulations on a useful post that brought out some really fruitful discussion. I really appreciate how you’ve managed to raise the community participation up a notch.
    Liz

  19. November 30th, 2005 at 12:45 am
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    I can’t live without a Sidebar. On my PetLvr blog version 2 I thought I had it all with 2 sidebars (one on each side). I liked it! but it really was information overload. I’m back to one sidebar. On my main page, I don’t even have text anymore - just titles of the stories and “Read More”.. (although, I am doing this for monetizing reasons too)On the single page template where it’s all at with comments, I have been doing this since Version 1 template like Javier suggested .. have lots of stuff in the footer. Currently, it’s a Daily Comic.

    I recently posted on BlogHerald discussing Weblogs PSPFanboy new blog - I really like the design of that sidebar.

  20. November 30th, 2005 at 12:54 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi HART
    Ah a sidebar addiction. I like that. I sort of have a sidebar on my desk here. I’m a visual navigator. All of the icons on the desktop of my computer are in the corners and at the edges.

    What’s so special about the PSP Fanboy new sidebar?
    Liz

  21. November 30th, 2005 at 5:59 am
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    http://www.pspfanboy.com/ … what I like about the sidebar, is it’s one continuous color (grey) that are different sizes, but don’t line up to the sub-menus (news, reviews, cheats, walkthroughs). It looks 3-D almost with the main white part slightly layered on top of the side column, and the with black background, if that sidebar was white or another color you might see blotches from the brightness .. the grey and light grey text works for me. Also, you see a lot of times adsense toss onto sidebars and centered or made to fit well on the sidebar, this center sidebar was made to fit the adsense not vice versa. Anyway, my Version 2 was the Gila Theme, I modified it but it basically started to look like http://www.bloggingpro.com/ this site .. Sure - it has everything, but don’t your eyeballs get dizzy?

  22. November 30th, 2005 at 6:28 am
    HART said

    [check moderation] I commented but guess it was the 2 links included in the text .. wasn’t trying to spam you.

  23. November 30th, 2005 at 8:32 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi HART,
    I lik eth whole design at PSPfanboy–a pinball fan myself–it keeps the eye focused where it needs to be. I looked first before I read your commentt and had the same thought about the advetisint. A lot of “smart” folks would make me jump ads to get to the far right, and frankly that irritates me to an extreme. I know they’re manipulating me and I don’t like it.

    The two side bars worked better in the very plain template that was the old FineFools design I think. A poet friend of mine has a nice two side bar design, Nedfulthings. I think it works because her background is so subdued and the sidebars are divided.

    This comment was moderated, I was sleeping, but lots of comments have been moderately lately. I need to check the settings. :)

    Liz

  24. November 30th, 2005 at 10:30 am
    Successful Blog Community News » Successful Blog said

    [...] If you weren’t able to join us back stage after Brian Shih’s article on sidebars, you might check out the comments section that follows it. We had a great discussion on sidebar design with several people bringing in examples of a variety of design options to use while making a point about what works or doesn’t work. [...]

  25. November 30th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
    Jennifer Grucza said

    Aww, thanks for the compliments, Javier and Liz! Javier, I think your site is really pretty and polished - mine is just minimal. :) I hope you do keep reading - I’m sure it would be nice to get a flute player’s point-of-view, too!

  26. November 30th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jennifer,
    We call ‘em like we see ‘em, especially where design is concerned. Has Garnet showed up at your blog yet?
    Liz

  27. December 3rd, 2005 at 9:36 pm
    Tuesday Design Discussion Night » Successful Blog said

    [...] Wasn’t it fun when we had that discussion last week in the comment section of Brian’s sidebar article? [...]

  28. December 7th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
    indeterminacy said

    The sidebars I like best have links organized by topics, with just a few links per topic. Seven is always an optimal number psychologically.

    My sidebar is a mess and I know I have to fix it.

  29. December 7th, 2005 at 11:50 pm
    Hsien Lei said

    Brian’s post was really helpful and informative, Liz. Thanks for pointing it out to us.

  30. December 8th, 2005 at 12:42 am
    ME Strauss said

    I’m with you Indie. Less is definitely more.
    But I like the sense of community that comes from showing the links on my personal blog of the people who hang out there.’Liz

  31. December 8th, 2005 at 12:43 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Helen,
    Good to see you.
    Hope that all is well on your new blogs.
    Glad that Brian’s post helped you out.
    Brian’s good at what he does.
    Liz

  32. December 10th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
    Why Didn’t WE Comment? » Successful Blog said

    [...] So many who discussed Brian’s article chose not to hang out this time–so many of the same voices went without a word. [...]

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