Free HTML course. Sign Up for tracking progress →

HTML: Sidebar

Most sites have a sidebar. It serves to display information that supplements the main text but is not obligatory. It's most often a section menu, a list of definitions from the article, widgets, etc.

In order to correctly mark up such an area, you can use the <aside> tag, within which the sidebar will be located. Let's add a sidebar with an additional menu to the example from the last lesson.

<header>
  <img src="/logo.png" alt="Logo"> <!-- Site Logo -->
  <nav> <!-- Menu -->
    <ul>
      <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
      <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>
      <li><a href="/contacts">Contacts</a></li>
    </ul>
  </nav>
</header>

<aside> <!-- Sidebar -->
  <nav> <!-- Additional page menu -->
    <ul>
      <li><a href="/service-1/">Service 1</a></li>
      <li><a href="/service-2/">Service 2</a></li>
      <li><a href="/service-3/">Service 3</a></li>
    </ul>
  </nav>
</aside>

<main>
  <p>The main content of the page. This can be an article, a description of a service, data, contact information, or a form to order a service</p>

  <section class="callback-form">
    <h2>Place an order</h2>
    <form>
      <!-- Here is the service order form -->
    </form>
  </section>

  <section class="more">
    <h2>Read also</h2>
    <article class="article-block">
      <h3>Service 2</h3>
      <p>New service description</p>
      <a href="#">Service link</a>
    </article>

    <article class="article-block">
      <h3>Service 3</h3>
      <p>New service description</p>
      <a href="#">Service link</a>
    </article>

    <article class="article-block">
      <h3>Service 4</h3>
      <p>New service description</p>
      <a href="#">Service link</a>
    </article>
  </section>
</main>

Note that <aside> is contained outside of the <main> tag. This content does not have to be unique on every page. It can be unique for each specific section (if we're talking about a menu, for example). If the sidebar is unique to each page, it must be located inside the <main> tag.

Instructions

Create a website header. It should consist of 2 elements:

  • Logo
  • Navigation section. It should contain a bulleted list with two elements

Add a <main> section. Inside, create a section with a header wrapped in an <h2> tag. Inside the section, create two blocks with descriptions of new services. Don't forget that inside the <article> tag, there should be a header. Mark up the headers themselves in <article> with the <h3> tag.

Add a sidebar. It's unique to each page and contains text that applies only to that page. Insert any text inside the sidebar. Think about where exactly this area will be located

The exercise doesn't pass checking. What to do? 😶

If you've reached a deadlock it's time to ask your question in the «Discussions». How ask a question correctly:

  • Be sure to attach the test output, without it it's almost impossible to figure out what went wrong, even if you show your code. It's complicated for developers to execute code in their heads, but having a mistake before their eyes most probably will be helpful.
In my environment the code works, but not here 🤨

Tests are designed so that they test the solution in different ways and against different data. Often the solution works with one kind of input data but doesn't work with others. Check the «Tests» tab to figure this out, you can find hints at the error output.

My code is different from the teacher's one 🤔

It's fine. 🙆 One task in programming can be solved in many different ways. If your code passed all tests, it complies with the task conditions.

In some rare cases, the solution may be adjusted to the tests, but this can be seen immediately.

I've read the lessons but nothing is clear 🙄

It's hard to make educational materials that will suit everyone. We do our best but there is always something to improve. If you see a material that is not clear to you, describe the problem in “Discussions”. It will be great if you'll write unclear points in the question form. Usually, we need a few days for corrections.

By the way, you can participate in courses improvement. There is a link below to the lessons course code which you can edit right in your browser.

Tips

  • Although we were talking about the sidebar, aside designates a complementary area. However, it often visually looks like a sidebar


If you got stuck and don't know what to do, you can ask a question in our community