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Feature Request: Sidebar

I think there should be a sidebar. It can be useful for showing logged in information, tags for topics, polls for topics, and who's online(info center stuff). Then you could even just remove the information center since it's contents is in the sidebar...
Last Edit: June 14, 2013, 01:16:06 pm by Xarcell

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #1 –

Please not a side bar...please.

There is already enough ooops on the screen as it is, I don't need even more... :(
Last Edit: June 14, 2013, 06:21:26 pm by emanuele
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Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #2 –

 Antechinus haz teh novel idea!

 Antechinus thinks maybe you could remove some of the other *insert family-friendly word for excrement here*....

 Antechinus thinks Ema uses naughty wordz. :)
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #3 –

Fixed... lol

 emanuele has to pay attention during the next interview because he created this mental idea that the word is normal...(really, not joking)
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Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #4 –

Quote from: emanuele – Please not a side bar...please.

There is already enough ooops on the screen as it is, I don't need even more... :(

No sidebar, that's fine; but what do you mean by oops on screen?

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #5 –

A leftover... :P

Well, I'm not the one that decides (if everyone likes it...I'll just add a setting to disable it :P).
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Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #6 –

Sidebar seems to be something I'd leave to a theme or portal type mod.
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion, you must set yourself on fire!

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #7 –

Weeeeell...
I could like sidebars if and only if the avatars go away completely and in the sidebar there is something actually useful.

A clone of the info center in the sidebar to me seems as useful as the info center... and I don't use the info center at all.

Now, define what could be useful in a possible sidebar is another problem.
What IMO could be interesting to have are all the buttons for moderation and for the topic (reply, add poll, etc.), maybe unread post/topics and the jump to.
In a position:fixed (or some js effect) sidebar.

Something like that may be interesting to explore.
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Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #8 –

Recent posts is actually useful in a sidebar, I find. Shoutbox is popular (although that's mod/portal territory). Not much else. You can put extra stuff in it, but since forums are about posts, recent posts is the only thing I regard as actually useful. My 2c.

And fixed positioing doesn't work well. Problem is that if the sidebar content is taller than screen res, you can't see some of it with fixed positioning. Absolute positioning can work very well though.

And you do NOT need javascript for sidebar positioning. lrn 2 ccs. :P
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #9 –

Quote from: emanuele – Weeeeell...
I could like sidebars if and only if the avatars go away completely and in the sidebar there is something actually useful.

A clone of the info center in the sidebar to me seems as useful as the info center... and I don't use the info center at all.

Now, define what could be useful in a possible sidebar is another problem.
What IMO could be interesting to have are all the buttons for moderation and for the topic (reply, add poll, etc.), maybe unread post/topics and the jump to.
In a position:fixed (or some js effect) sidebar.

Something like that may be interesting to explore.

Those are the things I'm talking about. Things actually useful, like the tags for the addon you made, instead of above the topic itself. Admin quick actions, moderator quick actions. You can even display a poll in the sidebar, rather than above the topic. One of the best things I like about Vanilla is that there is a "Post Topic" button in the sidebar, regardless of where you are in the forum. I'm not suggestioning that for Elkarte, i'm just saying I enjoy it. Sidebars are also great for Ad placement, and can easily be made responsive.

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #10 –

Quote from: Antechinus – Recent posts is actually useful in a sidebar, I find. Shoutbox is popular (although that's mod/portal territory). Not much else. You can put extra stuff in it, but since forums are about posts, recent posts is the only thing I regard as actually useful. My 2c.

And fixed positioing doesn't work well. Problem is that if the sidebar content is taller than screen res, you can't see some of it with fixed positioning. Absolute positioning can work very well though.

And you do NOT need javascript for sidebar positioning. lrn 2 ccs. :P

You don't even need positioning for a sidebar....

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #11 –

You don't, but you can use it if you want to, and I have. :) Depends what layout you want.
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #12 –

Quote from: IchBin – Sidebar seems to be something I'd leave to a theme or portal type mod.
+1, and a sidebar doesn't fit well on smaller screens (tablets, mobile devices)..
Thorsten "TE" Eurich
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Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #13 –

Quote from: TE –
Quote from: IchBin – Sidebar seems to be something I'd leave to a theme or portal type mod.
+1, and a sidebar doesn't fit well on smaller screens (tablets, mobile devices)..

That's why you don't have sidebars in small screens. Isn't that what responsive design is for?

Re: Feature Request: Sidebar

Reply #14 –

Yup, just have a look at Wedge's, it conveniently stuffs the sidebar to the bottom of the page if it's not wide enough.

I have very polarized opinions about sidebars in forums, really.
Back in 2010, I was so pro-sidebar, that I decided (and pretty much forced Arantor into accepting) that Wedge would have a mandatory sidebar, and no way to remove it. I quickly wrote the responsive code, which at that time would move the sidebar to the left, beyond the page visibility, and would be restored with a mouse hover, with a nice animation. I was happy with it, but unfortunately it wasn't THAT responsive, i.e. mobile devices didn't really like that.

Fast-forward three years, and I have a few things to say on why I hate sidebars...
- There's not much to push into them for a forum. Basically, it's a placeholder for a small user profile, feeds, and a couple other things. On a default install, it will feel very dry, and unbalanced.
- Although it's the definitive target for plugins, most plugins would find it more useful to place themselves inside the main area, rather than the sidebar.
- The more sophisticated your content becomes, the more complicated it is to make it fit next to the sidebar. Especially when you start putting media, etc.

However, despite these shortcomings, I still believe that Wedge is in its right when it's imposing the sidebar to users, if only because I hate wasting horizontal space in general, ah ah. But really, there are situations where I'd really like to control the sidebar by either hiding it or replacing it with a wider one, such as in media item pages, but that's mostly the perfectionist talking, so... Don't mind me.

I don't think Elkarte's goal is to have a sidebar in the end, but I'd like to see you guys try a sidebar that's folded by default -- e.g., something that can be shown by clicking one of those small 'menu' buttons you see on every other mobile website. That's something I could have done for Wedge, too, but I fear it's too late for me to do at this point, it might break Wedge's expected layout too much.