I know that there are a few minor remaining issues with Kubrick (like this), and it is my intention to roll those changes into the final v1.3.0. I try to keep up with the forums, but I’m bound to miss something once in a while, so here’s my plea to you:
If you come across a flaky piece of code, or if you have suggestions that would fit into the scheme of things; let me know, and it’ll go into my todo pile. Furthermore, just so you know, the 1.3.0 will be based off of Ryan’s excellent work and include a good deal of code strains from Freya. Now you know :)
Here’s a question for you, Kubrick users: Should I have the sidebar appear on all pages, or keep it the way it is now?
PS: Shout out to Jens, who helped me with some SQL magic yesterday. You’re so the money!
I like that fact that the sidebar isn’t always there. It doesn’t give any more room for content, but I think that the view of the individual post looks cleaner when the sidebar isn’t present.
Gotta go…
I also prefer that the right side bar isn’t always there. It’s something that isn’t important when you are reading “articles”, personally, I don’t care about the “links” section when I’m reading someone’s blog entry for the day.
I don’t agree, having the sidebar at all times is easier to browse the site, the overall look/interface is kept the same and without it you always have some extra steps to take to move around.
And for enthusiasts cutting of the header like we did it just doesn’t cut it by simple adding a ‘Home’ link at the top.
Keep the sidebar on the main page only. (Just being blunt so you don’t have to read so much.) Thanks for hookin us up so much…you rock, Michael! =)
I think that perhaps not the whole sidebar, but atleast a mini version of it would be useful for navigation purposes. People don’t necessarily want to goto the next/home/prev pages from an individual entry. they want to be able to jump around, to your links, etc.
Thanks Michael =)
Moving “This is an archived..” and navigation into the sidebar IMHO makes a lot of sense.
I do like the lack of the sidebar.. but.. :)
It keeps navigation elements away from the post, which is a more natural way of doing things. Asthetics may suggest the single page, no sidebar layout, but functionality wise, it’s more intuitive IMHO with the sidebar.
I’ve hacked into Kubrick (i’m on a nightly CVS build of WP) and Ryan’s (*hat tip*) update to Kubrick, to achieve something similar (sort of) to Freya with the sidebar details in posts.. I’ve got a long way to go, to really clean up my layout, including getting up to speed with CSS, and the gimp (my images need quite some work) but I really prefer having the navigation in the sidebar..
I’ve pretty much got to the point of “proof of concept” so get to clean up the edges now :)
On a side note, I’ve just spent 30 minutes recovering my debian based file & webserver from a ruined boot block.. I fucking hate grub, it screwed with the boot block something rotten. At least my systems back..
i’d prefer having the sidebar just on the main page … but it would be great to have a “supernav” bar defaultly coded on kubrick, in this case users will have an easier interface to navigate… well, that’s my two-cents-worth. great piece of work michael, it never fails.
I like it on all pages, for consistency for the user. One of the weakest parts of Kubrick is that it has no inherent mechanism to add site navigation: even adding the “old” Binary Bonsai-esque “supernavcontainer” class stuff barely works, and then there’s no place to add subnavigation and further information. Having a sidebar across all pages is more consistent (and, although I’m no expert in usability, more “expectable” for the user).
I’m glad to see you’re working on Kubrick 1.3.0, will it be for WordPress 1.3’s “themes” support? If so, will you have an archives page in the package that’s any different from the one in Ryan Boren’s current Kubrick for 1.3 package?
Good work, I look forward to it! :)
I am ultra into the way that this version is working right now. please don’t put the side bar onto every page.
so lovely here. worth the wait.
tripple sick mate!
Another benefit of retaining the sidebar is that you can put things like related links there, etc. One thought might be to use the WordPress “more” indicator or else even things like custom fields as a way to separate content in a “WP Page” between the main area and the sidebar. For example, put the “Opening” text of a WP Page in the main part of a page and the “rest” in the Sidebar? Or the same for a custom field (this actually makes more sense than the first option, now that I think about it) for “sidebar content”? Either way, I’d much appreciate an easier way to do site navigation in Kubrick. Thanks!
Something else occurs to me, which is this..
How far down the page is this comment, compared to the right hand side bar.
It’s not that obtrusive, as the nav is basically next to the post, with comments flowwing one after the other, with no sidebar..
It sort of works that way..
It’s possible that as part of the 1.3 theme, you could have a sidebar with commeted out sections (much like the current version). It may lead to some slight duplication of code, but if one can comment out one section, so that it works, then re-comment that which isn’t wanted, you end up with a sort of free-form layout, where you can actually have a post either with, or without the sidebar..
Or am I just being difficult? :)
I like it the way it is now. A sidebar is nice, but when looking at a single post, it isn’t necessary. I also think it improves the reading experience…
Although I at first thought it strange NOT to have the sidebar on every page, I’ve found that I design my pages without it. The sidebar is nice on the first page, but honestly, it’s just clutter on the other pages. So I’d prefer a default without it. But it’s no biggie, I’ll just comment it out if it’s there. :-)
For the wishlist for 1.3 features I’d say changing the picture on top for different categories and static pages, and a template changer based on category wouldn’t be bad. (I’ve ripped Kubrick to pieces to make one category, my photoblog, look like this. Not quite finished, but then again, is it ever? :-) )
I’d like to comment on some general usability guidelines regarding sidebars.
More important than whether or not to include the sidebar always, is concistency. The sidebar is usually used to display information relevant to what you’re reading. It is, quite simply, secondary information. As such, it is okay to change this information based on what the user is watching. Ultimately this means, it’s “okay” to turn off the sidebar for permanent links.
However, primary navigation should always strive to be permanently located at the same place. That is, easy access to search, “home button”, etc. If this is located in the sidebar, that means it should be enabled.
Finally, the very thing about never moving the primary navigation, is concistency, and “learning new pages”. As such, if you do remove the sidebar, it would be my suggestion that you do not center the content, but instead do what you do with Freya now, and have the column be the same size as on the frontpage, with or without sidebar. Consistency.
Definetely side bar for all pages.
The template is great, cleanest layout I’ve seen on wp.
My site is working pretty well just now, but sidebar on all pages would be the icing.
I considered messing with the php, but decided I’d rather have something that works.
Keep up the Great Work.
(ps, kicks movabletypes ass)
Bugger,
I swear I’m going to have to surgically remove ping backs (or rather, stop the default behaviour of pings being on) from WP 1.3, it really mangles comments, particularily when you forget it’s toggled on.. sorry Michael :\
Brendan, don’t give it a second though. Just yesterday I got the code put together that I need to weed out pings from comments. I should be implementing it later today.
Having the sidebar available on all pages would make for a more consistent look and feel and aid in navigation. It would be great to be able to choose in the template whether or not you want the sidebar depending on your preferences.
See, now this is why I like you (and the way you develop) :)
Of course, now I’m curious as to what the next evolutionary step in Kubrick will be..
Keep it like it is, it looks better to have a different view, it helps to guide the reader so that he “knows” where he is (in the blog).
Cheers and great work mate
I’m beginning to think that the community is split 50/50 on this issue :)
Just a tad. :)
Perhaps you’ll just have to do both.. Or some form of commented code in sidebar.php that gives creative control in either hiding or enabling it..
Options options.. :)
I prefer single post pages without the sidebar but maybe its possible to use a php variable ($singlepagesidebar = 1; ?) if commenting code is complicated from a users point of view?
That’s what I was thinking as well.
I prefer to have the the sidebar available all the time. I’m currently making adjustments to Ryan’s port to make it work the way I want it to.
Kubrick is a really nice design. I like it a lot. You’ve done a great job with it. It truely gives Wordpress a great starting point!
I liked Matthews idea suggested above. I was going to suggest having the option of two different pages for users who want it both ways (which might end up happening depending on which way you decide, someone will always step up with variations the way Ryan has). Bu tthe variable is an interesting idea. Or at least contains the code both ways in the page, commented out some the user could easily change it. (without possibly having to answer as many “support” questions)
I like the sidebar the way it is, but if it’s possible to let the user/admin decide let’s do that.
Make a sidebar like Freya so that grey box can be in the sidebar.
Also, I look forward to 1.3.0 and please don’t say that this is the final version. You mean the final build before the release of 1.3.0 and you’ll continue to update?
Also this will be for 1.2.1 right?
The next version will be for WordPress 1.3. There are a few minor issues that’ll be corrected for 1.2.7, which will be the last 1.2 release.
Whether 1.3.0 will be the final release, I don’t know. But it might.
So long as comments are turned on, any post with/without sidebar runs the chance of ending up way down here, like this comment. So I ask all of you to click a link on the sidebar right now. What’s that? You can’t? Of course you can’t, because the default method of displaying content and comments in most blogs today is to scroll it down. So long as that is the norm, having the nav on the side or not isn’t entirely a matter of usability.
My personal vote is without. It’s much cleaner and stylized. I prefer the top menu as the consistent navigation throughout. As an additional idea, it may help to add a “Back to Top” link to each person’s comment. It’s not normally a problem but with a popular blog like this, all this scrolling is troublesome.
I am in agreeance with Paolo here. I vote for leaving the sidebar off for comments.
I like the idea of leaving the sidebar as is, but giving the option to include it on all pages.
On a side note, instead of using gravatar, why not provide an additional form field that allows you to leave the URL of your avatar on your site?
The thing about Gravtar is they have a panel who judge and you can exclude anything above that rating.
Sorry to go off topic here, but I couldnt seem to find a contact link on Ryan’s site. Are any of you using Ryan’s Kubrick config for WP 1.3? If so, how did you get it to work? I uploaded all the files to my host and I get a bunch of errors and the page will not load? I’m probably doing something wrong. Any help would be appreciated.
I apologize for the above post Michael, please delete it. I figured it out the problem right after I posted it. Doh!
In the end Michael I think that the delault should be off, and leave the ablity to manually enable the sidebar in all pages.
Also, has anyone gotten the bullet points for Kubrick working on IE? That’s something I would like to see in the next version (not that I use IE, but you know)…
Will you be shipping a few different colored version of the theme? Or just your blog standard variety?
Trevor, the bullets can’t work in IE the way they are now. IE simply doesn’t support content substitution. Also, the Gravatars are nice simply because they ride in on the users mail address, with no extra typing in of information needed. Also, the Gravatar site does resizing and everything for me, so they look good regardless of what size I need them in.
Tom, not entirely sure what you mean. But if you’re referring to the default template, then I most likely won’t change a thing about it.
Personally I keep a sidebar on all pages (I’m using a customized version of Ryan’s plugin version of Kubrick), with the actual content of the sidebar changing depending on the type of page being displayed. I find a lot of people visiting my site via direct links to individual pages so if that template didn’t have a sidebar they’d have no way of navigating anywhere else or have any idea about the other content on the site.
Just something nice to go along with v1.3, you can make Kubrick compliant under the U.S. Sec. 508 Accessibility Standards by making just a small change to the search form. I posted it here: http://wordpress.org/support/5/16570 I’ll email you the search form file if you’d like.
so how do you get an icon next to your entry? do you have to be especially well liked?
: (
Keep the sidebar as is!
A navigation bar for static pages on the header would be fantastic. Been wrestling with that for the past few hours…
fernando,
They’re called Global Avatar’s, or Gravatar for short. Click on one, and it will take you to the gravatar site, where you can get hooked up with one..
Wordpress has a plugin which checks the comment poster’s email for gravatar support.. If the email has been used to setup a gravatar, it pulls a copy onto the post page..
.. Michael, there’s something else that could be coded into the next Kubrick (perhaps commented so it’s not enabled by default)..
I like the sidebar like you’ve done it on your site here – with related entries and so forth next to the text, but with nothing next to the comments. I like the empty-column look though.
On the sidebar, I like it the way to is in Kubrick 1.2.6, it’s nice and simple.
I have to say that I agree, there are serious usability gains from the current setup. When navigating to a single post there is no need to clutter the UI with all the other options, as long as you have the next/previous links that is all a user needs to navigate through the site.
Back buttons are now indoctrinated into the MTV culture, redundant navigation is good, not God.
quick question: (sorry for leaving so many comments) are you planning on using the same photoshop template with this new version?
Your initial idea of concentrating on the post & only the post was great. That’s why the side bar on all pages would create somewhat of a distraction. you have to be a complete laziass to not go to the front of the page to continue browsing. THen again, if you have great content, the people will find their way around. need not worry!
plus it allows people to place images of 550px width which is important with quality photos, ariticles, etc.
great work, michael! Like always, you daaa man!!
Isn’t it possible to have the sidebar as an option in a global configuration file? This way users can have it or turn it off without problems.
I would love to have a sidebar on every page, but only with information pertaining to the stuff you’re currently reading. A static horizontal navigation bar would do the trick regarding smooth navigation. Yes, that’s how it should be!
The new template looks awesome, Michael! Way to go!!
I would like to cast my vote for not having the sidebar on every page in the new version of kubrick.
Is it possible to make it optional?
Okay, here’s the thing…why can’t there simply be a template page to use for having a sidebar all the time and a page that doesn’t? I’m speaking from complete ignorance about the amount of work this all takes, but why have to choose one or the other? Have both versions available! :)
Okay, I think you can stop voting now. Thank you for chipping in on this. A few of you suggested using a variable to choose which solution to go for, and that’s what I’ll probably end up doing. Kubrick is still minded towards ease of use, so don’t worry it’ll be ease peasy to set up :)
Whatever you do, Michael, I’m sure that it’s going to look and work fantastic. Thank you for all of your hard work, on behalf of everyone in the WordPress community.
I personally use your Kubrick theme and I prefer to have the Sidebar on all pages, including ‘Single’ Pages.
Have a look at a single page in my website and see if it makes a case for you to decide.
Thanks,
Sadish
Has anyone else noticed that the links on the current state of Binarybonsai begin to go, but them reload the index?
I wanted to see Sadish’s site to see what the thinking was…
F.
Sorry, but what?
Well, they seem to be working presently for whatever reason. But for the last two days when i click any link on the site, i get re directed to your index.php
mac os 10.3.6
safari 1.2.4 (v.125.11)
an i’m not kidding around.
F.
i clarify:
any link which directs out of this domain.
F.
I think you should keep the way that it is.
I vote for a sidebar that would glue together a site, providing thoughtful navigation and continuity where it belongs, right next to the content on every page. Help make it easy for site users to get around, the bar is everywhere!
Just a thought on the use of plugin functions, like
time_since. If you check the availability of the function usingfunction_existsyou can use the plugin function if it’s available, or work around it otherwise. Working around it could be to use a default time format usingthe_timeiftime_sincewas not there.Well I might experiment a bit with that, I know that Brian already used that particular function for the latest comments plugin he put out (since I bugged him to do it ;)). But I am to some extend weary of making Kubrick too complex…
Despite what the readme says, there are enough people who can’t find their way around even CSS as it is :)
Yeah, Id second the K I S S method.
I would like to see the sidebar on all page. But I have no complaints about Kubrick… great work!