Sidebard Clutter ?

You should warn people that you have a mile long site.
I didn’t see the sidebar because I didn’t wait for it – just hit the Stop and Back buttons…

Hmmmm, thats good to hear actually ??

Right, changed it to the most recent 5 posts!

Any other comments !

If you look in your sidebar php file and find the blogroll php code, you can copy this and put it in a Page you will create. You will need a plugin to allow you to run php code in a page/post.

And, I don’t think your sidebar is cluttered. Look at mine.

I think it’s always a good idea to have a simple sidebar, but as long as it’s obvious to users that it’s not the main focus of the site, you can have whatever. The main problem is that if there’s too much users just won’t bother reading it, or they’ll get confused.

I’ve noticed that people often just click the first link they find, even if there’s loads of actual content left!

I’ve actually come full circle now, regarding the sidebar, and I’m not including one on my latest redesign — keeps the focus on the sidebar and makes things less confusing!

To answer your question, from my point of view, it’s a very well designed sidebar, everything is clear and nicely spaced and it’s the right width so as not to be confused with the content, but there might just be too much information that will either distract people or just get ignored.

Usability is the key. And knowing who your intended audience is will also be important. My blog design is just for me. It’s just a place for me to keep my journal and be a test site for me to learn php. It has expanded and my intent has changed (as will always happen). I’d like to use it for helping me in my teaching. I want to store my life’s photographs there. But in both of these cases, WP appears not to be the appropriate tool. You really have to use the right tool for the right situation.

And now I have WP on my local computer to help me test things and help people I see with problems in the WP forum.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy response which is perhaps off-topic.

Thanks very much everyone certainly made me think ??

Any other comments about my blog before I go thinking that everything is rosy ?

I think it looks very nice and well organized. The different sections are clearly labeled. Personally, I see no reason to change the sidebar at all.

You should warn people that they’ll have to continually click “Next Page” because your page is so short.

Kidding, but – design for your readership and preferences, not some generic and imaginary rule on length and shape.

??