Width of forum too short

[123seotools]

Hi,

Hope i will see here in a while a nice forum :)
i would suggest to remove left navigation bar and instead og this a random link to a blog post on top , also there is enough space for advertisement on top too .

[Phoenix]

I think Barry wants to keep the ads to a minimum. :D Its one reason we didn't like previous venues because of the gross over monetization of page real estate. Was a downer on the site. The page is a little thin and could use some color in my opinion, but if pretty nice size if you are on a 15 or more inch monitor.

[123seotools]

I have 17 inches monitor .

Most important part of a page is on top left for a viewer , for this website most important part is forum (i mean forums.seroundtable.com ) but it's not on top left .

My 0.02$ .

[rustybrick]

I am trying to keep the feel of the blog. To remove the left hand nav, it would lose a lot of it.

Any other ideas?

How bad is it on your screen?

[rustybrick]

I have 17 inches monitor .

Most important part of a page is on top left for a viewer , for this website most important part is forum (i mean forums.seroundtable.com ) but it's not on top left .

My 0.02$ .
Having the other forums links was a very conscious decision. The blog is known to report on the best forum threads. Removing those links would be perceived as a first step toward bias. Got to be careful with that.

But you may notice that the first part to load is the forum, then the left hand nav. The left hand nav is contained in the footer for speed purposes.

[123seotools]

It looks ok on my computer . (Mac + Firefox) .

Yes , you're right about this , i have not noticed that there are links to other related forums there even if i read your blog almost daily , thought is advertisement and navigation :)

[rustybrick]

yea, blindness kicks in quick with that.

[Skitzzo]

I think the links to the other forum threads is VERY usefull and should not go. In fact, I wish I had thought of the idea myself. Anyway, it does seem that there is a bit of a buffer (to the left of the links to other forums) that could be cut down to create a bit more space. It does feel a bit cramped... maybe the length of the links on the left could be cut down as well? Ultimately, I agree that you should remain true to the blog design.

[seo-ireland]

I like the layout. Don't change a thing :p

[sufyaaan]

I like the layout. Don't change a thing :p
I think the left side-panel needs to be removed... :D

[randfish]

It's OK for me, but I would like it to be wider... Especially when I have a favorites menu or tools on the left hand side open in my browser. And, although I like the left-hand navigation, I think it's probably not a big part of how people will use the forums... just my $0.02

[Bruno]

layout is ok, just to much black color for me, maybe just to put color from header, or pattern from header ("THE PULSE OF THE SEARCH MARKETING COMMUNITY " - behind this)

[rustybrick]

Bruno,

Have you been a reader of the blog? The colors haven't changed...

Anyway, open a new thread for colors and we will consider it.

I want to respond and implement your feedback quickly, as quickly as possible.

[Bruno]

yea, ok, it was just suggestion, no big deal :)

[rustybrick]

Maybe there is a way to hide the left hand side for registered users. Ill look into it.

[pk_synths]

Anyway to just collapse it?? Let the user turn it on or off if they want.

[rustybrick]

yea probably - ill add it to the to do list, as an option.

Ok folks?

[piniyini]

yea probably - ill add it to the to do list, as an option.

Ok folks?
Although I'm not too fussed by it, I think removing it for registered users would be great.

[Davilac]

I want more width. To collapse sidebar would be a good idea.

[Oliver]

Maybe there is a way to hide the left hand side for registered users.You could use a bit of funky DOM coding to get the left-column to expand and contract really gracefully - take a look at the moo.fx (http://moofx.mad4milk.net/) JS Library - completly non-intrusive JS based animation. Very easy to implement too.

One thing I wouldn't mind changed, is the favicon - I'm seeing the default vB favicon at the moment.

[sufyaaan]

Maybe there is a way to hide the left hand side for registered users. Ill look into it.
Yeah, it is the best thing that can be done.

[rustybrick]

Ok, we will be doing this. I'll let you know when its done. Should be by the end of the week. Oh, and no problem on the fav icon, should be done today some time.

[rustybrick]

We are still making these things happen, we did not forget.

Just taking a bit longer then we expected..

[randfish]

Glad to hear it - I'm looking forward to more space!

[rustybrick]

The fav icon should be done...

The hide left nav is almost done, only thing left is for us to fix the dhtml drop downs to be in the correct location, when in that view.

You can switch over now, by going to the edit profile in the user cp, and at the bottom is a Y or N pull down.

[seo-ireland]

Hide left nav option worked like a charm. I know I said not to touch anything and leave everything as it was but I love the change. I'm so fickle sometimes :o

[rustybrick]

You can switch, but don't complain about the drop downs yet. ;)

[Dan]

Thats alot better, very nice of you to give up that valuable real estate to improve the usability, thanks :)

[pk_synths]

Me likey. Looks like a whole new forum :)

[seo-ireland]

Rusty the drop-downs are not working correctly!...

...Only joking :D

[rustybrick]

Rusty the drop-downs are not working correctly!...

...Only joking :D
ha ha ha! you had me going there.. :D

[Bernard]

Before registering (and having the option to hide the left hand navigation), the forum pages did not fit on 800x600 without horizontal scrolling. Thanks for adding the option to hide the left nav.