User blog comment:Susanolivia/Beta Wrap-up/@comment-1656767-20101007204528/@comment-93604-20101007212021

Thanks for posting the comparisons:
 * Sidebar comparison.
 * Header comparison.

I could live with the wider sidebar if were on the left side instead of on the right side. Some tables and images must be wider to be most useful, or in some cases to be of any use at all. So they must be able to extend to the right side without overlapping anything.

I suggest making the sidebar dismissible. That way once the ads are seen once, then viewers can X out the sidebar, or maybe just the ad. If the ad were dismissed, then the sidebar could shrink down to around 200 pixels. It would only be temporary. The full sidebar with ad would show up on other pages, and on the same page if reloaded.

This does not solve the problem though of the narrow content space. It needs to be wider, even just a little bit wider would help. Better yet, of course, would be to let each wiki decide what width to use, and whether to use a fixed or flexible width, or a combination of flexible and fixed. I like a flexible width up to a certain maximum size of around 800 to 1200 pixels wide for the content space.

The full sidebar width (before dismissal) of around 300 pixels (with the ad) in the new look is OK by me, though it might be better for more people if it were reduced even slightly (maybe to around 250 pixels wide).