Comments on: Declutter your Sidebar

By: Declutter

Declutter — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:12:18 +0000

Organizing your sidebar can be one of the most difficult things to do, there is so much out there that you want to put on and keep on your blog. It’s just so tough. :)

By: Big Wet Noodle

Big Wet Noodle — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:53:35 +0000

I’m continually surprised that online banner ads work. Take this site for example, the ONLY way I would click on something in the flashing blinking screaming mess of a sidebar is if my bluetooth mouse started acting up (as it does) and the pointer jumped 3 inches to the right and up.

Do you make ANY money from them? Or are those little boxes simply more “karma bait”?

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:33:20 +0000

Great post and got me thinking. I am always adding and removing stuff from my sidebar never satisfied, but I need to check what really needs to be there.

Great site and I shall peruse some more posts and thanks for the helpful hints and tips.

By: James Mann

James Mann — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:41:21 +0000

Darren you certainly nailed it with this post.

I would have to say that the clutter that builds up in my side bar gives me the most grief over a clean looking site.

I will take this post as an kick in the pants and will take a long hard look at my side bar today.

Thanks for your great posts Darren.

By: Cleona

Cleona — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:37:31 +0000

Hello Darren
When I just started going into this blogging thing, I thought the more flashy banners etc you had on the site..the more visitors you would attract. I had to declutter mine the other day because it was taking away the purpose of my blog. I even had one of those players installed.. and one of my visitor said if i removed it then people would want to stick around. I still get tempted in putting stuff on my blog..but I try not to flood it. I will just have to start another blog. Simplicity is still the way to go.

By: Mi

Mi — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:54:45 +0000

I… fail…

I think I’ll sort of modify my blog so the other stuff go to the footer area instead of the sidebar.

it’s just the laziness preventing me from doing it.

*sigh*

By: Diesel

Diesel — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:30:02 +0000

I figure the more clutter I have, the less content I need.

By: Truden

Truden — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:14:44 +0000

I'm a little late with my tip, but it is actually not about decluttering the sidebar. It is about giving chance to your readers not to be annoyed by your sidebar. They can hide it.

By: Ross Hill

Ross Hill — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:23:59 +0000

But don’t de-clutter it too much, if I get bored with the article I need somewhere else to click – otherwise I’ll click on that X thing in the corner which never disappears :P

By: Graeme Hunter

Graeme Hunter — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:10:50 +0000

I’ve got an odd design with a “bottombar” rather than a sidebar, but the same applies, it’s looking a bit lengthy and cluttered, definitely time for a bit of a cleanout. I think I’ll strip the categories section to a few key ones rather than all displayed automatically, and see how I go from there

By: Roger (Cheap Advertising Blog)

Roger (Cheap Advertising Blog) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:18:40 +0000

I agree. Your blog tends to get cluttered up like your bedroom if you don’t watch it. You have to do some housekeeping from time to time.

By: kher Cheng Guan

kher Cheng Guan — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:52:25 +0000

Yes, i do find many bloggers are too obsess with overly-done design, loud colors and “hip” layout. Not the content. For a well-established blog, you can afford to forgo a lot of obstructive widgets like diretories, community blogs and whatnot. But personally, I prefer a sparse, well-layout blog filled with informative or entertaining content.

By: alanw

alanw — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:06:07 +0000

It’s definitely good advice. I’m just starting out with my first real website (only about 3 weeks into it) and I can easily foresee how cluttered the sidebars will get. So I’m going to do one thing at a time; make a change, monitor the effect of the change, decide whether to keep the alteration, then move to the next change. Hopefully it’ll work out.

I think I’ll also move the subscription nearer the top of the sidebar, currently it’s languishing in the footer. Sounds like a good idea to move it.

thanks for the advice.

By: Alan Roy Hocking

Alan Roy Hocking — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:18:18 +0000

Hi Darren,
I love the new look, very clean. Something I’m trying to achieve with my blog. I noticed you have not just decluttered your side bar, you’ve also swapped sides from the traditional left and moved your profile to the bottom right. Just wondered what were your reasons?

By: Shine

Shine — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:07:56 +0000

Great tip. We become “collectors” pretty easily. And, BTW, sometimes it’s also about logical thinking. If we can group and put things together in a logical way, they don’t look so messy / clutter-like.

Time to have a look.

By: Jermayn Parker

Jermayn Parker — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:27:27 +0000

Yeah totally agree, my personal blog is cluttered but after making teh mistake on that, I have minimised content on my sidebars for current websites…

By: Miracle

Miracle — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:33:30 +0000

I think a good way to mask the clutter of a sidebar is to not give it a separate column feel. My site is has 3 colums, but many people would never realize it. On the right I alternate colors to make it seem less static. Another problem with many sidebars is spacing. They just drop everything on the side right after the other. Many sidebars could just use a litle more space between its information. Of course, these ideas only work when there is still a manageable amount of sidebar content. Sometimes you just need to trash some things.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:57:16 +0000

Got rid of two widgets that were slowing down my site and chopped down half of my blogroll. It’s hard to stay focused over the life of your blog, thanks for refocusing me.

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:32:13 +0000

I was running that free ad network, but comments about it being ugly and it was taking up a lot of space – so I canned it.

By: redwall_hp

redwall_hp — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:20:42 +0000

Brian, maybe I just see it as cluttered. I don’t know.