NamePros is pleased to present the Spatial Sidebar™ — a revolutionary, first-of-its-kind sidebar!
With this new technology, invented by NamePros, sidebar scrolling is a seamless and uniquely-satisfying experience — namely, Spatial Scrolling™!
This specially-designed sidebar will remain visible and actively scroll for the entire page, even if the page is 1 million digital miles long! The main content of the page and the sidebar still scroll together, but the sidebar scrolls at a speed relative to the page’s height.
Put simply: the longer the page, the slower the sidebar will scroll. The main content scrolls at its typical speed.
We began developing this two years ago, around March 2022. As with anything truly novel, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome before it was ready for the public. But, the time has finally come for its BETA debut! And just in time, too, even if it was a piece of cake to develop… (it wasn’t!)
Without further ado:
The time has come for you to give it a try, see what you think, and let us know!
Just head over to this long archived thread on a device with a wide screen (e.g., on a PC, not a mobile phone).
Have fun!
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.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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One more thing… stay tuned for another announcement later.
(Update: The wait is over! Check it out.)
Why was this released today?
NamePros has a long-standing tradition (dating back to 2015) of doing something special for the community each year on April 1st.
What makes it revolutionary?
It’s a dramatic change to the way that sidebars are scrolled, enabling a pleasant experience and avoiding the empty space that occasionally occurs when you scroll past the sidebar on a long page.
Why is it called Spatial Sidebar™ and Spatial Scrolling™?
The experience
It feels a bit like the sidebar is floating around in outer space while you scroll, as if its gravity has been lifted from the page.
The design
It’s a creative use of the space available to the sidebar.
The technical
Built with CSS wizardry and CSS Transforms that allow us to specify the rendering and perspective (your perception) of elements in 3D space on the website.
What is its purpose?
The Spatial Sidebar™ supports serendipitous discovery of content while scrolling the entire page.
In contrast, static and fixed sidebars don’t move at all or they don’t move with the page.
In the past, before Spatial Scrolling™, there were missed opportunities of content discovery that occurred on long pages (e.g., threads with many/long posts) when the sidebar showed only unused/empty space for most of the page because the sidebar was only visible at the top of the page until you scrolled past it.
How do I turn it on and off?
There is an on/off switch at the very bottom of the sidebar that you can use to enable or disable this futuristic technology.
Why is this technology futuristic?
It uses technology that very few websites are using in the way that we are, and none of them have used it to create this kind of sidebar — the sidebar of the future!
With this new technology, invented by NamePros, sidebar scrolling is a seamless and uniquely-satisfying experience — namely, Spatial Scrolling™!
This specially-designed sidebar will remain visible and actively scroll for the entire page, even if the page is 1 million digital miles long! The main content of the page and the sidebar still scroll together, but the sidebar scrolls at a speed relative to the page’s height.
Put simply: the longer the page, the slower the sidebar will scroll. The main content scrolls at its typical speed.
We began developing this two years ago, around March 2022. As with anything truly novel, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome before it was ready for the public. But, the time has finally come for its BETA debut! And just in time, too, even if it was a piece of cake to develop… (it wasn’t!)
BETA Caution: If you notice an issue with the website, seemingly unrelated to the sidebar or not (e.g., the post button doesn’t work or other unusual behavior), then please report it to us. Also, try to disable the Spatial Sidebar™ to see if that fixes it, and tell us if it does.
Without further ado:
The time has come for you to give it a try, see what you think, and let us know!
Just head over to this long archived thread on a device with a wide screen (e.g., on a PC, not a mobile phone).
Have fun!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
One more thing… stay tuned for another announcement later.
(Update: The wait is over! Check it out.)
FAQs
Why was this released today?
NamePros has a long-standing tradition (dating back to 2015) of doing something special for the community each year on April 1st.
What makes it revolutionary?
It’s a dramatic change to the way that sidebars are scrolled, enabling a pleasant experience and avoiding the empty space that occasionally occurs when you scroll past the sidebar on a long page.
Why is it called Spatial Sidebar™ and Spatial Scrolling™?
The experience
It feels a bit like the sidebar is floating around in outer space while you scroll, as if its gravity has been lifted from the page.
The design
It’s a creative use of the space available to the sidebar.
The technical
Built with CSS wizardry and CSS Transforms that allow us to specify the rendering and perspective (your perception) of elements in 3D space on the website.
FUN FACT: We named this technology long before Apple popularized “spatial computing” with their Apple Vision Pro.
What is its purpose?
The Spatial Sidebar™ supports serendipitous discovery of content while scrolling the entire page.
In contrast, static and fixed sidebars don’t move at all or they don’t move with the page.
In the past, before Spatial Scrolling™, there were missed opportunities of content discovery that occurred on long pages (e.g., threads with many/long posts) when the sidebar showed only unused/empty space for most of the page because the sidebar was only visible at the top of the page until you scrolled past it.
How do I turn it on and off?
There is an on/off switch at the very bottom of the sidebar that you can use to enable or disable this futuristic technology.
Why is this technology futuristic?
It uses technology that very few websites are using in the way that we are, and none of them have used it to create this kind of sidebar — the sidebar of the future!
FUN FACT: Do you remember our Portals game that we released in 2022? It was developed using the same technology, and that project was built in part to learn and experiment with this technology so that we could bring it to you in new, innovative ways that are useful, such as Spatial Scrolling™!
