May 31st, 2006
Sidebar vs. Above-Bottom-Fold Blog Designs
For most bloggers, when blog designing comes into the picture, one key question is always pondered upon: How many columns should my blog theme have, or rather, how many sidebars should it have? In the past (where past isn’t really that far back), most would answer either 1 or 2 sidebars, with perhaps a couple considering more than that for more newspaper-like layouts. 1 column (0 sidebar) designs were a rarity.
Today, 1 column designs, famous for clear separation between the area above the fold (i.e. the section of a web page that is visible without scrolling), and below the fold, can be seen everywhere. Okay… maybe not everywhere. While the famous Hemingway Wordpress theme epitomizes this concept, more “commercial” blogs still sport at least 1 sidebar.
If you take a good look, you’ll find that most bloggers using 1 column designs are using them for their personal blogs. And a few of them still integrate a pseudo-sidebar into their designs. I’m doing the same on my personal blog too.
The reason for this is simple. Most users are still more comfortable with simple 2-column designs, with a sidebar filled with navigation, recent posts, RSS feeds, and all the “extras” bloggers need space for. Bucking the trend with one-column above-bottom-fold designs could be detrimental in the accessibility context, so only personal blogs tend to be “risked” in this manner. It would also be rather difficult to navigate in frequent posting blogs like Problogger and Engadget as a one-column design tends to feature only a couple of posts on the main page, wouldn’t you think so?
Personally, I’m happy to try new things. 1-column designs can be a breath of fresh air in a blogosphere where blog designs are ruled by sidebars. Of course, there are tangible benefits to a 1-column design. Clear focus is placed on your content, with the extras relegated to below the fold. They are more book reader-friendly as readers get to read from top to bottom, rather than get distracted by sidebars.
So, what do you think? Would you switch to a one-column design the next time you redesign your blog?
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2 Comments
June 1st, 2006 at 7:59 am
[…] Sidebar vs. Above-Bottom-Fold Blog Designs […]
June 18th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
[…] Remember when we discussed the above-bottom-fold layout earlier and I said most “commercial blogs” haven’t and wouldn’t start entering the platform any time soon? Well, it seems The Blog Herald has decided to give it at try, but if you’ve seen Chris Pearson’s creation, you’ll instantly see how suitable it is for TBH. Somehow, Chris has managed to combine the newsy commercial multi-column layout with a personal blog-style bottom-of-the-fold container on the main page, with an oldish (and grayscale) Victorian-style theme blending the two together. […]
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