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I have a web design question:
"TO HAVE A SIDEBAR OR NOT TO HAVE A SIDEBAR"

I am [very slowly ] developing a weblog site, and I do not know if
I should have a sidebar. At times it can be useful, like links and
interactive content, but it can also be annoying, like as if I decide
to have a very skinny design (which I do not think I am going to do.)

Thank you for your opinions on this issue.

--
n: mark seymour
e:
w: http://hidden.shadeddarkess.net/

>I have a web design question:
> "TO HAVE A SIDEBAR OR NOT TO HAVE A SIDEBAR"
>
Some will say yes, some will say no. I say YES! I have a site which I think
it works well. You can store all the data you want users to see all the
time, have a look http://www.pubtricks.com (there are some firefox problems
at the moment so don't flame me about that!). I have 2 side bars that I
change on some pages and display random content via PHP. Lots of people go
800 wide still. 90% of people now have 1024 so I would not worry about the
width. Keep important data on the left and stuff you can afford to loose on
the right.

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006, Jemdam.com wrote:

> >I have a web design question:
> > "TO HAVE A SIDEBAR OR NOT TO HAVE A SIDEBAR"
> >
> Some will say yes, some will say no. I say YES! I have a site which I think
> it works well. You can store all the data you want users to see all the
> time, have a look http://www.pubtricks.com

[USEMAP:image01.jpg]

[logo.gif]
d i g i t a l - m a g i c

[freevideos.gif]

[USEMAP:menunew.jpg]

[databank.gif]

[18-small.jpg] under 18?
click here

Like Us? Link Us?
[banner03.gif]

[redline.gif]

[redline.gif]

Not impressed.

> (there are some firefox problems
> at the moment so don't flame me about that!).

Firefox is pretty close to being a standards-conforming browser, so
there's little excuse for having problems with it.

So I tried Opera instead - and got an unreadable mess.

Still not impressed.


W3C QA Markup Validation Service
v0.7.2

Result: Failed validation, 726 errors


You aiming for some kind of record?

Your site looks real nice.. I see the problem with the text on the
sidebar.
I think I'm going to stick with a sidebar on the right and content on
the left... I keep on re-doing the layout cause most of the time I try
to emulate other sites... and I'm going to keep on going until I
finally get something original (which is very hard IMHO.)

Jemdam.com wrote:

> have a look http://www.pubtricks.com (there are some firefox problems
> at the moment so don't flame me about that!)

Not just Firefox ... I can't read it. Dim grey text on a black
background with this:

<font face=arial size=-1 color=#808080>

Minus 1? Smaller than flyspecks. After increasing the size about 150%
or so, I can sort of begin to make out the words.

--
-bts
-Warning: I brake for lawn deer

In article
<311Uf.15987$>,
"Beauregard T. Shagnasty" <> wrote:

> Jemdam.com wrote:
>
> > have a look http://www.pubtricks.com (there are some firefox problems
> > at the moment so don't flame me about that!)
>
> Not just Firefox ... I can't read it. Dim grey text on a black
> background with this:
>
> <font face=arial size=-1 color=#808080>
>
> Minus 1? Smaller than flyspecks. After increasing the size about 150%
> or so, I can sort of begin to make out the words.

Can I get in on this too please? Sometimes I am in a mood to beat
up folk who are being pummelled by others, they are lying there
bruised and beaten, innocent as hell, and well, why not get a few
free kicks in and see what it feels like.... Just a mo while I
walk back like a fast bowler to get a bit of momentum:

The http://www.pubtricks.com takes ages (minute or more) to load
and the result in Safari (a pretty fast and reasonably compliant
browser) - after upping the text size quite a bit to be readable
(in principle) and scrolling just a touch down is:

http://dorayme.150m.com/pics/pubTricksOnSafari.jpg

OK, how do I feel? Rotten, actually.... but the deed is done.

I will think of a suitable punishment for myself when my men
return from hunting down Luigi's attackers in Europe... (they
have found and "dealt" with one of them so far - just btw. Yeah,
I know, Luigi does not want this sort of thing but his way is not
mine and one day he will come to appreciate the justice involved)

--
dorayme

dorayme wrote:

> The http://www.pubtricks.com takes ages (minute or more) to load

Hey, good on you for pointing that out. I didn't notice it on my fast
cable.

--
-bts
-Warning: I brake for lawn deer

red_dragon2983 wrote:

> I have a web design question:
> "TO HAVE A SIDEBAR OR NOT TO HAVE A SIDEBAR"

I would say yes, have one.

Reason: 99% of your visitors will normally spend 99% of their time on
other people's sites. They are familiar with how other people's sites
work. Probably 90% of those other sites have at least one sidebar. So
your visitors have about an 88% expectation of a sidebar.

If you have only a tiny amount of navigation (4-5 links, maybe a search
form), then it might be possible to restrict the navigation it to your
header area.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact

"Alan J. Flavell" <> wrote in message
news la.ac.uk...
> On Wed, 22 Mar 2006, Jemdam.com wrote


Alan, you are a jerk. The post was about side bars and not MY HTML CODE.
Some people on here are just a real pain. I want to provide feedback to a
user. My site my have errors but this is not the topic.

> Not just Firefox ... I can't read it. Dim grey text on a black
> background with this:
>
> <font face=arial size=-1 color=#808080>
>
> Minus 1? Smaller than flyspecks. After increasing the size about 150%
> or so, I can sort of begin to make out the words.
>
I have to get a lot of detail on each page, -1 and -2 are the only options
or you get a site that looks crap. I have a sub note book and can read it
perfectly well.