You may not realize it but the sidebar design also plays a massive role and it is important that you give it some serious thought when designing the sidebar of the website. It is in the sidebar that a massive amount of information can be shared and it is also in this sidebar that advertising programs can be activated that will transfer a hefty sum of money into your bank account on a monthly basis, provided that your website does well. Besides, it offers the much needed instructions on the steps that a site visitor would like to take once they have soaked in all the information that you have to provide on your website, including getting connected with them on their social media profiles or sign up for a newsletter or email subscription.
A clustered sidebar and inadequacies in its design can make your website look stodgy and absolutely unappealing. Therefore, if you are working for a web design company, looking into the trivial yet important aspects is very important, sidebar being one of them. Given below are some essential tips that will ensure that you design a stunning sidebar for your website keeping all the basics in mind.
1. Know what to include in the sidebar
Before you even get down to the actual designing process, you need you sit back and mull over the need that caused you to design the sidebar in the first place. What is that one function that you would like for your sidebar to perform? The answer to this question can unravel the main purpose that your website or the sidebar will serve. In simpler terms, it is also known as the ‘call to action’ and one of the best ways to interest a visitor into taking a favourable action is by guiding them towards the sidebar with an appropriate design. The call to action could be for anything – you may want a visitor to like your social media profiles or search for other kinds on content that they are likely to find on your website. All of this needs to be conveyed with the help of sidebar design.
2. Placement of the sidebar is key
It is a no brainer that the sidebar will be placed at the side but the placement of the call to action that forms a major part of the sidebar is what plays an important role when designing a website. As a rule of thumb, there are 2 possible methods that any web design company applies. The first one calls for using the F method where the name of the blog is followed by the most important content below it and the call to action in the sidebar alongside. The Reading gravity emphasizes the fact that a reader’s eye is likely to follow a slanting pattern starting from the top left and ending at the bottom right and it is the latter that will decide the positioning of your content.
3. Deciding on an appropriate size of the content on the sidebar
Essentially, maintaining a stark contrast between the main content on the web page and that on the sidebar is crucial. This is essentially important when the sidebar has no defined borders as the same size can confuse the visitors. Bumping up the pixel amount by a few notches is important however, it should not be too high so as to make it look brash. While the written matter like social media buttons or the search box are of a bigger size, the inclusion of any image in the sidebar should be smaller so as to balance out the look.
