Comments on: Double Column Sidebars

By: Kitchen Gadgets

Kitchen Gadgets — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:40:29 +0000

I really like 2 column sidebars. One doesn’t seem like enough to me.

By: Arun

Arun — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:36:55 +0000

This sidebar is good!
But you can remove the Blogroll widget.. It is empty!

By: Double Column vs Single Column Sidebars | Bush Mackel

Double Column vs Single Column Sidebars | Bush Mackel — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:29:48 +0000

[...] In one of my posts, I wrote about double column vs single column sidebars. [...]

By: Tay - Super Blogging

Tay - Super Blogging — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:32:24 +0000

Since we’re talking about archives here, I figured I’d share this great post Skellie recently wrote:

http://www.skelliewag.org/archives-suck-and-3-ways-to-save-them-200.htm

I agree with every point she has made: archives should be on their own page, and they should let the reader navigate your entire blog’s content. On my blog I used to have a sitemap, which listed all the categories and titles of all the posts underneath them. Not only could that have helped the readers, but it’s a huge help in getting all your content indexed with Google and other search engines.

My sitemap is generated by a WordPress plugin, but at the moment after one of my WordPress upgrades it’s not working – but I plan to add it back soon.

I DO think good archives are important, but not in the sidebars – and not just a month-by-month list, especially.

By: Bush Mackel

Bush Mackel — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:43:43 +0000

Wow. Now that’s cool! I can’t remember the last time I noticed a blog using cookies like you do! Very very impressed am I. (#):)

By: Lihue Kango

Lihue Kango — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:48:16 +0000

I’m in agreement about the archives: If they aren’t descriptive, ditch ‘em. And don’t get me started on sites without search bars!

By: Forrest

Forrest — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:41:59 +0000

I personally don’t see much value in archives links, either … especially as they get longer and longer. I’ve heard a few times that photo blogs are an exception, though, and since that’s what I run, I haven’t axed mine (yet).

If you take a look at my blog, I think I came up with a nice trick. Even if I’m working a bug out of the tag cloud part of it… When you explore a file system, or most types of hierarchy, there are expand and collapse buttons at every node. I haven’t managed to put them on all nodes yet – that’s a lot harder than it might sound – but I’ve set things up so that a person who doesn’t want to see my archives list, or another sidebar item, it’s a click of js link. I use a cookie, client-side, to “remember” whether a person wants something to display or not.

Casey’s double column sidebar looks great. But she has more design talent than I do…

By: Bush Mackel

Bush Mackel — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:55:33 +0000

@Tay – Ohhhhh, I’ve seen comments that are MORE boring. (#);) But yeah, Casey’s sidebars are great and I guess I can see your point on archives. I’m just glad that I’m not alone on this front and that she has archive links in her sidebar too.

THOUGH I have used archive links before when trying to find old posts, especially if there’s no search box. But I guess that’s another conversation…

By: Tay - Super Blogging

Tay - Super Blogging — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 07:51:36 +0000

Honestly, I feel archives can be useless if all they are is a list of dates, and I think they are ALWAYS useless in the sidebar. I try to keep my own sidebar maintained and as small as possible, so things aren’t too jumbled up – I like my readers to be able to find what they’re looking for easily.

However, I think two column sidebars are great as long as they don’t make things look too cluttered. Casey’s sidebars look magnificent and are a great example! I’m a fan of two sidebars especially when they’re same on the same side (like on this blog here). Otherwise, things can look a bit crowded. It all depends on the design and how well it’s pulled off, I suppose. But either way, the clutter should be kept to a minimum.

Woo, now that was a long and boring comment.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 06:25:32 +0000

Your points all make sense. A lot of them good. But i have found two column sidebars are to distractive for my readers. Also it looks ugly. See this blog only has them on the right obviously and it looks good. I just think it looks more professional. Nice article though.