Thoughts on large sidebar?

[JABRONI]

I wanted to hear other people's thoughts on the size of the XF sidebar on some sites.

I seem to have this issue where if the sidebar is longer than the actual node list itself, I HAVE to change something to make the sidebar shorter than the node list.

I was wondering if this was just me being OCD, or do other people feel the same way? Do you care if the sidebar is longer than the node list?

 

[DRE]

screenshots?

 

[JABRONI]

screenshots?

Longer:



Shorter is basically, well, shorter than the node list.

 

[TheBigK]

I'd prefer a 300px wide sidebar.

 

[DRE]

oh you mean taller

ilike it level ifits possible

 

[Adam Howard]

Taller?

Like DRE, I prefer it either equal with the forum or short than the forum. Having it taller makes it look out of place.

 

[Adam Howard]

Taller?

Like DRE, I prefer it either equal with the forum or short than the forum. Having it taller makes it look out of place.

Off course if its a little bit off, it's not to bad (see attached for example)

 

[Sheratan]

Talking about sidebar...





The space is longer for guest.

 

[Paul B]

I removed stuff from the sidebar on my site for the same reason; sidebars which extend well below the node list look silly.
One of the blocks I removed was the Staff Online Now block.

 

[erich37]

I wanted to hear other people's thoughts on the size of the XF sidebar on some sites.

I seem to have this issue where if the sidebar is longer than the actual node list itself, I HAVE to change something to make the sidebar shorter than the node list.

I was wondering if this was just me being OCD, or do other people feel the same way? Do you care if the sidebar is longer than the node list?

just create a bigger "Welcome Notice" with some text and also include a big "Sign Up Now"-button (which redirects to domain.com/register) within the "Notice" at your Homepage.
Additional text related to your specific Forum in the "Notice" does not hurt your SEO after all

Or include an image within the "Notice" and it will move your Forum-nodes much lower.


http://xenforo.com/community/threads/notices.18390/page-12#post-276946

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/custom-button-in-notice-need-css-help.49182/

 

[Ingenious]

Likewise I really don't like sidebars that extend beyond the main content and leave huge gaps, it just doesn't look right.

 

[Shelley]

That is one of the first things I always do when creating a style is remove/hide the staff online block. I honestly think that members online does suffice.

In the early days I did try to level it off but nowadays I'm not that fussed.

 

[JVCode]

I very much dislike the sidebar being taller than the forum list. - luckily, I've never had that problem.

 

[Stuart Wright]

I'd prefer a 300px wide sidebar.

Making ours 300px for MPU adverts.

 

[TheBigK]

Making ours 300px for MPU adverts.

I'd want to do that too; but with fixed layout, it leaves very little space for the actual content.

 

[Shelley]

I'd want to do that too; but with fixed layout, it leaves very little space for the actual content.

You could shave some padding off on

#content .pageContent {
padding: 10px 20px;
}

And set the left/right value to 10px saving a total space of 20px though you would need to adjust the #QuickSearch {right: 10px;} so it lines up with the sidebar which is originally set at 20px. I know it's a small increase to extend upon the sidebar width but I'm sure in other areas (nodes) there are other areas you can save space by allowing for wider sidebars on fixed width styles. One example comes to mind is removing the "latest" prefix from the "lastpost" area and maybe shave off some padding on that as well as some margin.

 

[Paul B]

I have reduced all margins and padding for that reason.
I use a fixed width of 992px and the sidebar is 276px and it works fine.
It could quite comfortably go up to 300px if required.

 

[xf_phantom]

Off course if its a little bit off, it's not to bad (see attached for example)

It's very hard to get the same high
Specially if you have categories & or forums which aren't shown to guests / registered users...

I've just given up to try to have the same height :/

 

[Stuart Wright]

We've pretty much decided that we'll use 976px fixed width with a 300px sidebar and zero horizontal pageContent margin. Have to apply the same colour background as for the content so it all blends ok.

 

[John]

I removed stuff from the sidebar on my site for the same reason; sidebars which extend well below the node list look silly.
One of the blocks I removed was the Staff Online Now block.

My framework gives easy control over all the sidebar blocks, among other things: