Today I have been working on a new feature for the site. It allows registered users to customize which sidebar items appear and which ones don’t!
You’ll still be able to expand/contract the sidebar elements so that you can keep them on the screen without them cluttering things up, but this new feature is great for any sidebar element that you never use.
It also means that I can create new sidebar elements and make them optional for registered users! So if you have an idea for a sidebar module that you would like to see, make sure you leave a comment and let us know. We can then do our best to create it, and let registered users decide whether they want to see it or not.
One thing that I would like to do in the future is let users rearrange the sidebar elements so that you can put your most important ones toward the top. This will then give a more customized experience here on the site.
Oh yeah, I suppose I should tell you how to add/remove sidebar items. On your Management Screen (only available for registered users) you will see a menu option that says “Customize Sidebars.” Once you click on that all you have to do is uncheck the boxes that you don’t want to show up. Hit the Update button and you’re all set. Here’s what it looks like:
It might take up to 15 minutes to see your changes take effect because of the caching that is done on the site, but if you visit a page you haven’t looked at in more than 15-minutes you should see the changes.
Between this update and the last one two-weeks ago, the sidebars should be getting more useful for you. Almost all of these ideas have been submitted by users…except this one was my own. I hope everyone enjoys it and let me know if you break something. 
This is awesome. Good work guys! I’m going to try it out now!!
How about a module for the “unread comments”, like what’s seen on the management screen. I wouldn’t want all of them, maybe the most recent 10 or 15.
By the way, nice work.
Thanks…glad you like it!
Piece of cake…metaphorically speaking. I should be able to get that module up today. Thanks for the feedback!
Great feature!! It would be cool if registered users could also drag and drop modules (AJAX style 8)). Also, each module could have a little x in the corner to close it without going to the management screen. That screen would be used to add new modules to the page.
Thanks Max! We are working on using some JavaScript to do a drag and drop arranging on the Management screen, but it wouldn’t be on the website directly. For one, that would mean it’s just more JavaScript for users to load every time they visit the site and for two I think it would be easier to drag and drop or add/delete them in one central location. It’s not like users will constantly be deleting them so I don’t think it would be too much of a hassle keeping the customization on the Management screen.