The Pisstakers is a 3-column site and despite my occasional rants and cajoles, I am no different to anyone else - the side bar is always a cause for concern.

Which ever way you spin it, someone somewhere will say your sidebar is too wide, too busy, too understated, too overstated, too many scripts, too slick, too tacky, too little styling, too little too late. Knowing you cannot win is the first step to nearly winning!

The Pisstakers sidebar

Anyway, in an effort to improve on The Pisstakers right sidebar, I have developed a widget-based system. (Quite by accident, I must add) I seem to have found a more consistent look than before, and far more flexible.

Basically, the boxes expand to the content and because the widgets are stored on a server, rather than coded in the page itself, I can easily update the content. This means the ability to easily create and maintain lots of links to humor blogs, cool blogs, tech blogs and other good friends of the Pisstakers.

Is it a blogroll?

I suppose that I have developed a sort of blogroll, categorised into different blog styles. But before I am asked to hang myself on my own anti-blogroll hypocrisy, suffice to say, every link to a blog will be included in proper text!

Widgets will be made public

I will shortly be making the simple copy-and-paste code available for all widgets, but for now you can add the Cool Blogs widget, plus Humor blogs widget and the tried-and-tested Funny Quotes widget to your sidebar. (They are a fit-and-forget dynamic link to cool blogs in each genre).

To add your blog to a widget

If you want your blog to be highlighted in one of these widgets, feel free to send Ed a link to an interesting / praiseworthy post on your blog. I will add it to the relevant widget with a few introductory words. The more people install the widget, the more people are likely to click through to your site.

In return, please post a short article on your site that includes a link to The Pisstakers.

User feedback requested

Let me know if this new system is working for you - ie does the site load any slower than before? Does the sidebar add to or detract from your enjoyment of the main content? Thanks.

(I am off now to work out the easiest way to add annoying background music!)