Should You Still Use Sidebars In Web Design?

Are sidebars still necessary in modern web design? Which websites benefit most from them? These are fair questions, because designers have strong opinions on both sides. Here is what sidebars do well, where they cause problems and how to decide whether to use one on your own site.

Sidebars help organize extra content, but can add clutter

Advantages

• A good place for short bios, social profiles and contact details
• An easy spot for email sign-up forms
• Useful for related posts, categories and promotion of related products
• Helps keep a website design organized when you have a lot of secondary content

Disadvantages

• Unnecessary for a portfolio website or a simple business site
• Takes space from the main content, especially on small screens
• Can end up cluttered, with competing links and ads
• Can slow the page or shift the layout if it loads ads or widgets late

You need a reason to use a sidebar today

A decade or two ago, a sidebar was close to a default element on most websites. Today you need to justify one. If you have no good reason to add a sidebar, do not add one just because other sites have them. Design practices change, and a layout that was standard years ago can feel dated now.

That said, there is nothing wrong with a sidebar when it adds value. On a desktop layout with plenty of related content, such as a long list of categories or a table of contents, a sidebar can help visitors move around. Make sure its content is useful to the people reading, and remove it if it is not.

Be flexible. No single layout choice should become a rule. But keep in mind that most visitors now arrive on phones, and Google uses the mobile version of your pages for indexing and ranking, so mobile is the default design, not an afterthought. Start with the phone layout, and ask whether a sidebar belongs on the desktop version at all.

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Skip the sidebar for most business sites, and know the exceptions

Most business websites work better without a content sidebar. If you do not need to feature ads, extra buttons or lists of links, a single wide column keeps attention on your message and call to action. On phones, the sidebar usually drops below the main content anyway, where few people ever reach it.

There are exceptions. Sidebars are common for navigation in web applications, dashboards and documentation sites, where a persistent menu helps people move between many sections. A sticky table of contents can also help readers of long articles. The kind of sidebar that is falling out of use is the crowded one stuffed with widgets, badges and ads.

A small, useful sidebar can still work for blogs and publishers

If you run a blog or publication with advertising or sponsorship revenue, or you have valuable content to feature, a sidebar can still make sense in your web design. Even a blog that runs minimal ads can use a sidebar well, as long as it is limited to what matters most, such as a search box, a sign-up form and popular posts.

Keep things simple. A simpler website is easier to browse and use, which improves the user experience. Test any sidebar for layout shift and speed, because late-loading widgets can hurt Core Web Vitals.

Make the sidebar earn its place on every screen size

In the end, it comes down to what you put in the sidebar and how valuable it is to visitors. You do not have to drop sidebars entirely just to please mobile users, but you do need to strike a balance. If your site benefits from a sidebar, keep it on desktop and move it below the content, collapse it or hide it on mobile. Make sure it is keyboard accessible and that the order of content makes sense for screen readers. Then watch your analytics to see whether visitors use it. If they do not, remove it.