No Sidebars

I was talking about the Writer theme at a meetup once when a developer asked me if it was possible to set up a sidebar for the theme. I said no way, not today, and not ever.

Why? Because sidebars tend to be a dumping ground for unimportant things that nobody wants to look at. It would be bad enough if they were value-neutral, but they impose a tax on all other page content, drowning out the message you are trying to share. To me, sidebars represent the unquestioned patterns that result in unnecessary friction and cruft (both on the web and in life). And I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

Writer’s lack of sidebars is a feature. Don’t be afraid to throw out your sidebar. I’m confident you won’t miss it at all.