DISQUS

Shooting at Bubbles: A blogger’s secret weapon - the sidebar

  • jeber · 1 year ago
    Great post. I value my sidebar so much that I only select Word Press styles that allow me to modify it to my liking. Lijit, Profilactic and polls are what I'm currently using to catch visitor's attention. I'm always on the lookout for new items that can increase the value of the sidebar.

    As you say, it's often a neglected aspect of blog design. I hope your comments cause bloggers to revisit their sidebars and use them to the fullest.
  • ChangeForge | Ken Stewart · 1 year ago
    Interesting read, Steven. The sidebar has been something I have been considering for some time. With so many people subscribing via feeds, it is extremely difficult to get draw to your actual page. I have been tempted to begin pushing either small adverts or other items via the rss feed itself. Any thoughts on this?
  • StevenHodson · 1 year ago
    As far as adverts in the feed I don't think that as long as it is within reason that there is anything wrong with it. After all you can use Douglas Karr's excellent plugin http://www.douglaskarr.com/projects/postpost/ to add content -image or text - into your RSS feed as part of the post. However I don't know if I would want to go much beyond that unless it was an actual part of the post ie: Polls, video etc.
  • fyc · 1 year ago
    I generally ignore the sidebar. I'll glance at it the first time I come to a blog (mainly for any site navigation or to see if the person's on Twitter, FF, etc.), but widgets like Lijit or MyBlogLog don't really draw my attention. If there's a poll, I'll check it out, but nothing much else. I'm rather single-minded when it comes to reading something.
  • StevenHodson · 1 year ago
    I am the same to a certain extent which is why it would be nice to see something new in the widget field that would benefit both the readers and the blogger and not just whoever is supplying the widget.
  • fyc · 1 year ago
    My thing with widgets is that, every time I assume that no one can possibly come up with an idea for a new widget, someone does. And I bristle. (Bristle!) I think my main problem with widgets is that what I personally deem to be too many people tend to use what I personally deem to be too many widgets, leading to a cramped and crowded layout. Maybe I'm just a crazy, minimalist elitist or a crazy, elitist minimalist or simply a crazy elitimalist.

    Some sidebars I don't mind, though, but that's mainly because they're customisable and linked to user accounts (e.g. on /.), which would probably be somewhat of an overkill for blogs.
  • PUB · 1 year ago
    Also consider the safety of the information these widgets may be gathering, unbeknownst to the unwitting Publisher who installs them.

    As a mom, you know our Blogs, like our kids, need to be protected as they grow. P.U.B. [Publishers Union of Bloggers] has pending inquires to Widget Providers concerning how they generate their income and what percentage of this income goes to the Blog Publisher making the critical decision to allow a Widget on their site for their readers. In addition we are requesting transparency on the critical issue of how the private statistic from Publishers Blogs are being used, hopefully with the Publisher’s permission!

    P.U.B. expects to heard back from Lijit on these financial and private statistics issues from P.U.B’s inquiry we sent to Lijit in mid April 2008. When we do we will let great Blog Publishers like you know their deal.

    Will publish these results to keep the community of Blog Publishers informed on this critical component of Widgets on our Blogs. Thanks again for being a great mom!

    Sincerely,

    Barney Moran
    Founder, P.U.B.
    Facilitator, Daddy Boot Camp, Boulder, CO
  • Akshay125 · 1 year ago
    Blog sidebar widgets might contain an author's wishlist, the current weather, an instant message box, or much more. Authors choose and place their widgets using drag-and-drop techniques instead of editing HTML and other forms of complication. The easily packaged widget allows quick deployment and customization for blog visitors while extending the personality of the author. It is a useful thing in my point of view. I just can't ignore it.
  • jason chambers · 9 months ago
    I know what I want for to do with my side bar but dont know how to code it myself, maybe some one can tell me where. What I really need is a widget or gadget that allows me to do a sort of a mini-post with a photograph, maybe fifty to one hundred words and a linkor two that would archive seprately from my regular posts. This would be for like a recent projects or discovers. This would be fantastic for artist and craftsman who have there normal subject and could use this for specific projects or details. If anyone know how to do this or where to find it please le me know at bigchambers@gmail.com. I know I want to develop every inch of my blog and I am more interested in ways to add content than little games that could be on thousands of blogs.