Sidebar or no sidebar: which layout wins

For most websites, no sidebar wins. A single main column keeps visitors focused on one thing, works better on phones, and is easier to keep tidy. A sidebar earns its spot only when people need to browse, filter, or jump around a lot of content, like a large store or a blog with hundreds of posts.

Here's why, and how to decide for your own site.

What a sidebar is, and why people add one

A sidebar is a narrow column beside your main content, usually on the right or left. It's where you tend to see things like a list of categories, a search box, recent posts, an email signup, ads, or a short "about me" blurb.

People add them for understandable reasons. A sidebar feels like free real estate. If you have a link, a promotion, or a signup form, there's an empty strip of page just sitting there. The trouble is that every item you put in it competes with the thing the visitor actually came to read or buy.

Why no sidebar usually wins

There are three practical reasons a single column does better for most small sites.

• Phones. A big share of visitors will see your site on a phone, and a phone screen has no room for two columns. The sidebar either gets squeezed, hidden behind a menu, or dropped to the very bottom of the page. So the sidebar you carefully built often isn't seen at all. Designing for one column from the start means what you see on a computer is close to what they see on a phone.
• Focus. If your page has one job, such as getting someone to read an article, book a call, or buy a product, a sidebar gives their eyes somewhere else to go. A page with one clear path and one clear button is easier to act on.
• Reading comfort. Text is easiest to read in a moderately narrow column. When there's no sidebar, you can center that column and leave breathing room on both sides. That looks clean, and people tend to stay longer on pages that are easy on the eyes.

Pages with a single goal do especially well this way. That includes your home page, service pages, landing pages for an offer, and contact pages.

When a sidebar is worth having

A sidebar is the right call when it helps people find their way through a lot of material. Here's the rule: if visitors will likely look at many items and narrow them down, use a sidebar. If visitors will look at one thing and make a decision, skip it.

That points to a few clear cases:

• Online stores with many products. Filters for size, price, color, or category are a classic sidebar job. Shoppers use them to narrow a long list.
• Blogs with a deep archive. If you have dozens or hundreds of posts, a category list and search box help readers find more. A brand-new blog with ten posts doesn't need this yet.
• Help centers and documentation. A menu of topics down the side lets people hop between answers without starting over.
• Member areas. A side menu for account settings, courses, or downloads keeps navigation in one predictable place.

Notice that in each case the sidebar is a tool people use, not a place to park extras. If you can't name what a visitor would do with something in your sidebar, take it out.

A middle path that works for many sites

You don't have to choose one layout for the whole site. A common and sensible setup looks like this:

1. No sidebar on the home page, about page, service pages, pricing, and contact page.
2. A light sidebar, or none, on blog posts. If you do use one, keep it to a search box and a few categories, and put your signup form or call to action at the end of the article instead, where a finished reader is ready to act.
3. A filter sidebar on product listing pages, if you sell enough products to need one.

If you're not sure how your current layout is doing, a free check helps. The SimplePath website grader scores an existing site, so you can see where it stands before you change anything.

How to pick without building it twice

Layout is one of those choices that's annoying to redo later, so decide it early. Ask yourself two questions about each page: what's the one thing I want a visitor to do here, and will they need to browse through lots of options to do it? If the answer to the second is no, go without a sidebar.

If you're building from scratch, SimplePath lets you describe the site you want in plain words, including the layout. You can say "a single-column blog with a category menu at the bottom" or "a store with filters down the left side," and it builds from that. You can see the kinds of sites, stores, blogs, and member areas it can create on the products page.

Still unsure which layout fits your situation? Get in touch and tell us what your site is for. A short description is usually enough to point you in the right direction.