We’re currently building our second app with a contextual sidebar. In modern web apps, the sidebar is an important tool. While in commercial websites the sidebar is mostly about auxiliary navigation, in web apps, it’s about relevant tools. As our industry gets smarted about involving ajax in our applications to avoid page loads, it makes sense that the sidebar would change form dynamically as well.

We typically divide sidebar tasks between input/review. The sidebar has one function when first loading the page, and surveying what it has to say, and another when the content is being edited.

Even better, the contextual sidebar can have the ability to learn about what you’re doing as you do it. As you drop in and out of different roles, the sidebar can get better at making it’s usefulness accessible. So “contextual” starts to mean not just “what” you’re doing, but “when” you’re doing it.

We can’t tell you that every app we ever build will have a contextual sidebar, but it’s tough to imagine a scenario where it’s not a useful technique.