Must we always follow like sheep? Can’t we add sidebars to our blogs that dare to be different? Is it just me, or are the sidebars on most blogs virtually just a copy of one another?
I have been giving this issue a lot of thought lately and I decided to try and do something about the mundane and boring sidebar that used to be on this blog.
I personally think that a lot of blogs (especially WordPress blogs) have this problem because the available themes sort of force this on the theme users.
Let me try and explain my way of thinking.
Why must I show a list of Recent Posts on the sidebar, if on my main page, I already have excerpts of the last eight articles on the site. Even on the single pages I add further navigation for a user through the Related Posts shown beneath each article. This last is of course only true if the relevant article does have related posts.
Recent Comments – does anyone still read this stuff.
Tag Clouds – why did I go to all the trouble to create an archives page?
Calendars – last I looked we had left the 90s behind us.
All of this sort of led me to changing the sidebar on this site. I am still very much in the dark and I know I have not yet reached my objectives but this is where you come in. You might just have the idea that could add that sparkle to an otherwise dull sidebar.
Allow me to explain the thinking behind the present sidebar to your right:
- I have added an EMail subscription block. This is not what I really wanted. I actually would like a single block containing both the subscription details for both RSS and EMail. At present I cannot do this as I have promised to run an ad on my blog until mid-December. This is the blue one next to the RSS button on the main page. Until this period has passed I cannot really make the changes I would like regarding the whole feed issue.
- I used to have a Skribet suggestions widget on the sidebar but I have removed this. The widget kept on reverting to its default state every time I edited any of the other widgets. The version I was using was a beta version, so maybe I will just wait for a full version to be released.
- The block entitle ‘About’ is just a little information about myself with a link to the About page.
- The Blog Reviews and Archives blocks are similar. They just contain a bit of information with links to the relevant pages.
- All three blocks mentioned above are of course another way of getting links pointing to inner pages of the blog.
- The Top Commenters is still very much an experiment. Some love it, some hate it. I personally have not quite made up my mind yet. There does appear to be a type of friendly rivalry amongst the commenters on the list. When the one overtakes another the other is normally pretty quick to reciprocate. This is not a bad thing and I find it quite interesting.
- Another word on the Top Commenters list. At present the list is very similar to the blogroll shown on the main page just above the footer. This is just co-incidence and this is definitely not the measure I use to add or remove blogs from my blogroll.
- The Quick Links at the bottom of the sidebar is nothing else than one of those ‘just in case you are interested’ things.
What am I trying to do here? I want my sidebar to be different from most others. I have not quite managed it yet, but I am trying.
I had the new sidebar reviewed by the folks on the only forum I subscribe to and received a bit of positive feedback A spelling mistake on the sidebar was even picked up – oops.
I need more feedback, I need your opinion. Remember that on this blog I experiment, whatever I learn here will eventually find its way into the themes developed around here. What else could be added? What should be removed? Maybe I am just taking this ‘being different’ thing too far?
Love to hear from you.
Till next time.
Hmm.. this is good.
I will try to put some innovative things on the sidebar like you and remove the things that most of the sidebars have..
It seems you are always on the lookout for experiment.
I change my sidebar once in months
.
Thanks for this info. Will try to think and do some changes on my blog. I want you to also give your feedback after i change few things on my blog in the sidebar
Thanks Nihar. I am a woman, just as we love moving furniture around, so I love changing things on my blog. I will love to give feedback once you have made your changes. Please keep me informed.
I like this. As for as my theme is concerned, I’m very much new into this kind of coding. But as the time passes, I will certainly make changes to the layouts of my theme.
The nice thing about changing one’s theme is that it does not all have to be done at once.
Hey Lyndi. Thanks for linking to my forums. Glad the critique forum helped you.
I definitely think you’re on the right track with your sidebar. Another possible use is related content, I think it’s a bit more visible than the links at the end of your post. But if you did that, I think you’d need to make it obvious that the sidebar on your posts is different from the sidebar on the main page.
I think the key is to make it useful. Maybe a random post would be good there too.
Thanks, as always you leave me with lots to think about.
For me the tag cloud seems to be nothing more than a form of spam, but some say there is some SEO value to it. There was a big push on tag cloud sites that consisted of nothing more than a single page with high pagerank for a while. They sold links and I could never see any value in a site like that, because they wasn’t any content of value. Just a bunch of Page Rank seekers, is all that I saw from my stand point.
Recent posts can be a pain if you are doing a series with similar titles. It can get you in an area which could be considered spamming your page content. I am thinking of dropping it on the Madmouse Blog, because of this. Personally, I think it is a little too much! Be nice to get some input from other bloggers on this one. Any takers?
The thing that worries me about SEO is the danger that all our blogs could start looking alike because we are all trying to follow the same SEO rules. I think you should ask the question you have asked here in an article on your own site. It will be interesting to see what the SEO experts that visit your site make of it.
Looks good, not sure about top commentators list – I am still not converted into having that.
If you don’t want hole where RSS button is why not display something placeholder there? Simple banner with link to featured post or whatever. Email block really misses RSS part. And big RSS button in company of three ads looks like an ad.
What’s do you mean “default state” with Skribit widget? If you have time mail me details and I’ll pas them to developers. btw yesterday I caught bug in that that breaks IE 5-7 and it’s indeed beta.
As soon as the blue ad can be removed the whole RSS thingy will be redone. I agree with you totally on this stuff.
The Skribet widget kept on reverting to making use of the Skribet CSS and I would have to click the relevant setting to get it to use my CSS. I have just noticed that version 0.4 of the widget is available, I will have a look later.
Sidebars and I have arguments all the time. They are either too wide or not quite wide enough (usually by 5 pixels not wide enough which makes me crazy).
Top Commenters — well, I guess that’s more for your readers than for you. I can’t see it giving you much benefit beyond that and I hardly glance at it. Kathy at the Junk Drawer shows a total of how many comments site-wide she has — she’s approaching 10,000 and that is an awesome number. I’m thrilled with passing the 1,000 mark this month (that’s total, not for the month).
Tag Clouds – I never knew what the purpose of those were in the first place. A fancy place holder?
The Skribit widget was interesting although I don’t think I tried to interact with it. Having things that people can interact with might be a tiny draw. There’s one site that has that cat that you can make purr, meow, swat your cursor and roll it’s eyes around by hovering your cursor over it. I’m sure that keeps people entertained for a few minutes at a time – reduces the bounce rate
There’s a skeleton you can put there at Halloween that you can make do stuff. Are they relevant to your site? No. Do people come in droves just to play with them? Probably not. Meh.
I don’t like that giant RSS image, but guess it’s better than a blank spot or a placeholder.
I think the about is just enough — do away with the about page and create a page for another key aspect of what you do on this site. You have Reviews and Themes — how about WP Tweaks or something?
You put images with your blogroll which is a nice touch, and I see other images in the sidebar that are not ads as well. Images are interesting. People like them. Don’t forget your alt and title tags even on those.
ê¿ê
Some nice ideas, thanks. Congratulations on that 1,000 comments. I still have quite a way to go.
As you know – I already love your theme. And this is a very nice looking sidebar….
)
Am not to sure about the Top Commenters. It is nice for the first 3 or 4 commenters to “run a competition”….. (mmmh that word… Commenters does give a red line in the spell check…
Seems like I am about the only one who appreciate a Tag Cloud…. – if I see a word of interest – I just click that one= and will see what other items will show up. And in my “5 months of blogging career” I never clicked an archive button.
But this all is a very personal taste – and one thing is sure; I look the way you set it up !!
It suits the whole page.
(yep – still jealous)
I noticed the same thing in the spell checker. It is the correct word, I think. I notice some people use the word ‘commentators’, I do not think this is correct.
One of the things on my to-do list is to learn how to customise any sidebar on any theme to the way I like it. This is a major reason I will not use widgets. I feel I can customise things better when I don’t.
For eg. the top commenters links. I’d ideally like to present each the blogroll links and the top commenters links in different ways so that you can tell which is which at a glance. All the while keeping the same ‘theme’ through the blog. Not easy stuff to do but do-able.
I like the personal touches you’ve added to your sidebar, but I do wish you’d incorporate more graphics into your header – but I think that’s just the graphix junkie in me talking.
The issue of graphics in the header is a hot potato. If I could find a way to do something useful with the graphic I would use it. Just adding a graphic because it looks nice worries me a bit. That space at the top is most probably the most valuable space on a blog and I think it should be used for more than just something pretty. This could form the basis for an article in its own right.
I agree with Fragile — Your header’s a bit plain. Maybe by design (hehe), but still.
Also, what’s the point of the Quick Stats area?
Of course, I’m being nitpicky and I think your site rocks, but since you asked for us to be critical, there ya go.
Best!
Thanks Stan, as I said the ‘quick stats’ is really just a bit of ‘in case you are interested’. I thrive on criticism, that is how I learn new things.
I like a blog where the sidebars blend in or match the rest of the blog’s look. Can’t really do that with widgets from Entrecard and etc. Too bad they don’t have options to change the colours but then the ads from other blogs wouldn’t match anyway so I guess it’s a moot point.
There is not much one can do to ensure that the Entrecard ad matches your site unless you only approve the ads that do match. I do not think that will make you very popular though
You know whats weird is I was here reading this a few hrs ago. And thought about making a comment about how I would now be compelled to start redoing my sidebar:)
I had thought I had made my archives page somewhat original after your other post about that.Then I looked at yours and think I may of snatched some code
Anyway I hope you have a great weekend and I appreciate the help and support.
Stumbled
I see many blogs and I do have to give it to you for original thoughtful content Excellent work
Thanks. You are welcome to ’snatch’ any code you want
. Thanks for the review on Stumble.
I would like to thanks everyone for the nice suggestions on improving the sidebar. I am going on 3 months holiday in two weeks time. One of the things on my ‘to-do’ list in that time is the sidebar. Watch this space.
There is nothing more exciting to me than seeing that CMF ADS widget in your sidebar. Except maybe your smiling portrait!
Flattery will get you everywhere.
Arranging the sidebar is something personal. Some like to arrange as other people do. I like your sidebar by the way, clean and well-organized! So if I were you.. I wouldn’t change anything!
By the way.. Just the other day I was thinking about re-arranging my sidebar as I’m not that happy with it..
) and some more changes…
For example: I have this sided tabbar in my sidebar which contains my blogroll..I want to give my blogroll a permanent place, like in a page (Yep following your tip from one of your posts!
By the way: I didn’t knew that I was the nr. 1 on the Top Commenters list!
You have been the top commenter for quite a while now. Thanks.
It seems we’ve 2 kinds of bloggers
1. Beginners: Who take templates ‘as is’
2. Professionals: Who tweak their templates
In the two cases, you still find the personal touch of everyone while picking up the theme for the blog whether ifree or professional ones.
Your new theme is great and the new tweaking for the sidebars is simply you
Thanks for the nice words.
Excellent article again Lyndi.
From my experience a lot of what you wrote depends on the site it is referring to. Allow me to explain.
Your blog is about Wordpress, about trying new things and seeing if they work. A lot os us have similar (but not the same) blogs, so things like “how many comments” etc to excite (is that the right word?) us. If that feature was on my Dad’s blog about stamps I’m sure he wouldn’t pay it any attention at all.
Now my own personal hot potato, the top commenters. On a personal level I love it. I smiles when you first put it on and I was up there at the top, just behind Margaret. Part of me wanted to post a couple of comments and get ahead, but I really didn’t have much to say on that day, and out of respect for you I was not going to post crap just to “get ahead”.
That is the crux of the matter in my opinion. If you have blog followers that respect you (and each other) then it can be a fun thing to have. I host a very busy forum, and certainly in the early days people were just posting for the sake of it just to get their post count up. I even considered removing the post count at one stage. This is kind of the same thing.
In my opinion it is a good thing, and I do see from the stats that I have been slipping a bit, and I need to comment more, but only when I have things to say (I usually do!). Personally I would only remove it if you find it is being abused.
In general I find I rarely look at archives pages, but I see the value in them. Relevant posts are interesting, I have considered implementing that one myself, but I find it works better when listed immediately after the article, not in a sidebar.
I think a LOT of sites have too much clutter in the side bar, but yours is looking better with each update.
I am not a fan of asides really. Personally I like to see new content (whatever it may be) appear where I expect it, at the top of the page. That is just a personal view though.
Keep up the good work Lyndi (comment count +1… watch out at the top, I’m comin to get ya!)
Thanks Jim. There are quite a few ‘regular’ commenters to this blog. My comment rate per article has improved nicely and I am very proud of it. IMO the best part of blogging is the interaction within the comments. I have noticed that many commenters are actually addressing one another in the comments, this I really enjoy, this is what it is all about.
Sidebars can be the source of much frustration! I struggle with mine weekly.
I, personally, like tag clouds. Sure, archives and a search function can render tag clouds virtually obsolete, I believe that if used properly they add a lot of value. Maybe I don’t know what search term I want to use, or maybe I don’t want to comb through archives to find a related post (YOUR archives are the exception, not the rule!
).
I frequently click on tags in blog tag clouds. Sometimes I’m happy with the results, sometimes I’m not.
If it wasn’t for this fact that we all enjoy different things, blogging itself would have been quite boring.
Mine is just a mess! I need a blog make-over!
Thanks for visiting. It is always nice to greet new visitors.
I don’t think my sidebar is boring. I do like your top commenters box and am looking for one but don’t know where to get it from. Could you help?
The Top Commenters widget I use is part of the NoFollow plugin. To use this widget you have to install the plugin. I hope this helps a bit.
I think that the top commenters widget is a nice touch and probably a good incentive for people to make a couple of extra posts. But wouldn’t it be sufficient to only display the top five commenters?
Totally off topic: is the “You are here:” thingy under the header a plugin? And if so: where can I get it?
The top commenters on the sidebar is still very much an experiment, I will look into reducing the number of commenters shown. The breadcrumb navigation details can be found here (the ‘you are here’ thingy).
It’s funny that you should mention this because I am having the same problem with my blogging website. These days they include information, such as the tags I use, and then list them one by one down the page, which is quite annoying. Also, the calendar (archive) and page summary are not options I can take off. I would love to have interesting widgets such as your “top commenters” or an “about me”.. Also your RSS widget is great.
I have LiveJournal (not wordpress), and don’t know a thing about coding, but feel frustrated at the lack of options to keep things simple. is there any way you would be able to help me?
Unfortunately I know nothing about LiveJournal but I am sure there have got to be lots of folk that could assist you. Maybe you could Google for a LiveJournal forum.
I have put in a support request, and they still havn’t answered it back (this was days ago). LJ isn’t what it used to be, I’ve been there since 2001 and I’m really considering switching to another blogging site. Thank you though, I appreciate it.
It starts with a ‘W’ and ends with a double ’s’.