At first I liked them, but now they're just annoying. They're a want, not a fundamental need of a website. Unless your site has information dotted throughout it to make it horribly confusing for the newbies, you don't need one. Just look in the forum marked "INFORMATION" 'cause that's usually where it all is.

And sidebars can look horrible if you don't have the winning combination of graphics and text. Not even I know that winning combination, all the sites I've been on had terrible sidebars.

Less is more, you don't need a whole Hungry Jack's Whopper TM of sidebar graphics for your site to look good.

But then, that's getting back to the whole idea that I actually like side bars. Nope. Not anymore.

Sorry.

I like side-bars for the fact that you can stuff all of your information on there. But the thing that isn't good, is over-stuffing them. I've seen side-bars with those ridiculously long things at the bottom that just look fancy and have the forum name on, and they're about 500 pixels in height. And because of that, the actual side-bar is bigger than all of the forums put together, and that just looks bad.

I also like sidebars. It's a good place to put a Cbox, links to different threads, Characters of the Month. That type of thing. I don't like having the things on the top or bottom- it just requires more scrolling where as the sidebar is already there. I also agree though- very few sidebars are really great looking.

I used to like sidebars because of the organisational benefits. I still do, mostly for that reason.

But they're becoming very common now. Most sites have a sidebar of some kind. And some simply look silly and they look like they're trying to put too much information in there.

Some look as if the site designer didn't want to try to make it look like part of the site. It looks stuck on, or blocky or just.. eww.

D: MINE AREN'T HORRIBLE!

*cry* /wrists

I like sidebars :) Because you can click into one of the important threads without having to go through the index and such again, I sometimes like to check things when I'm posting, like who soandso's mother is on the canon list, and such. I also usually just skim the breakdown on the sidebar before reading site rules/plots, because I find a lot of plots are really long nowadays, and I like to get an idea of what the site is before trying to read it and realising it's not for me. I also prefer not having to scroll to see the cbox, or shoutbox, or whatever.

D: DON'T CRY! *hugs* *pets* there there.

I like sidebars. They are very handy but yes at some places they look just so bad that I could do without them. I just hope that if people are to use them, they will go and gain a sense of aesthetics first. Or get someone to do the graphs for them.

*cling* ; ; I worked h-h-hard on those sidebars!

I used to not like sidebars because they were too trendy. COTM and couple of the week and all of that sort of crap. However, even I must admit that they are great for storing a lot of information and giving the members quick links and the like.

That said, I heartily agree that over-stuffed sidebars drive me nuts. Even worse--and I'm not even that picky about graphics in general--are people who think that they've made pretty graphics, but the fonts for their headers just don't fit the theme of the board.

I can remember seeing some lime-green side-bar graphics. They really hurt my eyes. .____.

I wonder what sites you've been looking on. And what are you judging some of these sites on if you don't know what a winning combination is?

With that said, Sidebars are totally contingent on the type of site skin used. Some look really good with a sidebar - they work for some sites. Others look really bad with them - and it's just better to use a header graphic or something to that effect.

They work for organization. That's pretty much it. But when you get people who put a lot of extra crap in them, they look bad.

D:< MY SIDEBARS ROCK!!!

lol

They're not cluttered and they match my site layout! OMG THEY MATCH!!! *FLAIL*

But yeah, I've seen some ridiculous sidebars. And then there is the ugly ones. D: Why must they be ugly?!

Awww Lady Hikari, I do like your side bar =D it's sidebar-licious. Actually its one of the few I approve of, feel special......

lol

It's really hard to make a good sidebar, but the less they are cluttered, the better.

Mine just have the C-box, RPG-D banner, my site's banner and then links to rules and stuffs. Simplicity is the best sidebar!

My sidebar - supplied by phpBB and eventually figured out! - has: latest topincs (scrolling up), navigation, credits, search, forum support, and affiliates. And if I change the forum colours, hey presto! Sidebar colours change too! No extra coding needed!

I usually use a sidebar on my boards, more than anything it keeps my brain in a sensible order when I look at the site so I can see everything clearly. xD

I'm thinking of taking advantage of the IPBFree flip function (displaying the code right to left instead) to put the side bar of my new site on the right-hand side instead this time, just to spice things up a little.

I always use sidebars to organise my site information, it's much, much easier and when done properly they look exceptionally nice too.

I could fit the information I put in my sidebars in a table at the top of the forum; I think most everyone can, even if they say they can't. :p I like them primarily because I'm used to them and because I think it accents the layout and site. I try not to go overboard with my graphics, though I like to think I have enough an aesthetic eye to where I can do the simple thing as well as the extravagant thing as far as sidebars are concerned. For instance, on an HP site, I had a sidebar that was filled with bunches and bunches of flowers, vines, etc, and I got a lot of compliments on it (to the point where I changed it to something simpler, people openly expressed their distaste for it in comparison to the first layout...) At the same time, on my last HP site, I simply had text describing each section of the sidebar. The site and layout didn't require anything frilly, so simple worked (plus the banner was enough), and I received quite a few compliments on it as well.

They stretch the forums! Every single site that has a sidebar has a stretched forum so I can't see the whole reply box. I'm using a laptop, people. Be more considerate.

I used to not like sidebars first, but now I really like them. It's a nice place to put easy access to rules, guides, characters, whatever for member to get to. Sure, some people make them look horrible and put way too much on it, put some people do wonderful jobs with them. Personally, I'm all for sidebars.

XD geh at one point I thought Sidebars were nothing but a pain in the butt.. But after experimenting around with it, I realized how much it really does to make your site look gorgeous and neat! o.O So I absolutely adore sidebars! =P

I'm very graphics oriented to I love sidebars. Gives me stuff to make and I've never really got complaints about my sidebar graphics. Not to toot my own horn. But I hope I do it right. In any case about the PURPOSE of sidebars, I think it's a easy way to jump around the board if you have a navigation area of links. Especially when you're first joining the board or opening your own. It's a nice way to check up on the canon list etc.

Well, I used to have a sidebar on my old site but our current skin prohibits me from having one. I'm totally fine without it. I have the things I need in easily accessible areas and no one has complained, with the exception of one staff member only once, about it not being there so I think as long as there's no open revolt, we're just going to live without it.