Sidebar
/SIDE-bar/ · noun · NAV pattern · #095
A column down the left or right side of a page, beside the main content. On the left it usually holds navigation (dashboards, docs, admin tools); on the right, related content — filters, a table of contents, ads or “more like this”.
Also called: side bar, side menu, side navigation, sidenav, navigation rail.
You might call it
- “the side of a website”
- “the menu on the left side of the screen”
- “the bar on the side of a website”
- “the column next to the main content”
- “the left side menu in a dashboard”
…its name is Sidebar.
Common questions
What is the side of a website called?
A sidebar. It is a column beside the main content: on the left it is usually navigation, as in dashboards and documentation; on the right it usually holds related content such as filters, a table of contents or ads. The thin bar you drag along the right edge to move up and down is the scrollbar.
Sidebar vs navbar: which should I use?
A top navbar suits a handful of main sections that fit in one row. A sidebar suits many destinations or nested groups — admin tools, docs, email — because a column has room to grow downward. Many products use both: a slim header for the account and search, a sidebar for the sections.
In code
| Web (HTML / ARIA) | <aside> <nav> aside for related content; nav when the sidebar is navigation |
|---|---|
| SwiftUI | NavigationSplitView |
| UIKit | UISplitViewController |
| Jetpack Compose | NavigationRail PermanentNavigationDrawer |
| Android (Views) | NavigationRailView NavigationView |
| Flutter | NavigationRail Drawer |
Prompt for your AI coding tool
Add a sidebar on the left of the layout for navigation: a fixed-width column with grouped links and icons, the current page highlighted, and a toggle to collapse it to icons only. Keep it visible beside the content on wide screens and turn it into a drawer opened from a menu button on narrow screens. Use a nav landmark with a label and mark the current link with aria-current.
More UI words to use when vibe coding →
Related patterns
All the parts of a website, named →