There’s different ways to layout the front page of your guild’s site. There’s always a content area which contains different information like your news or the new site wall. Today I’ll show you different combinations which you can use to layout the front page. If you’re using a fixed width, the total width the page uses adds up to about 1000 pixels. How you divide that is entirely up to you.

CONTENT

There is no side navigation here. This places your content front and center. Navigation of the site is handled exclusively through horizontal bars. Most sites place that navigation above the content and below the header on their page.

CONTENT SIDEBAR or SIDEBAR CONTENT

This is a layout that’s most commonly seen on different blogs. You have the main content area followed by a sidebar on either the left or the right side. Additional navigation is placed under the sidebar, maybe a hit counter and latest forum threads. Some sites choose to add a shoutbox even. Great if you plan to have content on the site which needs the extra size such as large, high resolution images.

SIDEBAR CONTENT SIDEBAR

This is the tried and true layout that Enjin sites use. The content area is flanked on the left and right with menus or smaller modules that display other information. I recommend using 200 pixels for the sides each.

SIDEBAR SIDEBAR CONTENT or CONTENT SIDEBAR SIDEBAR

The final layout isn’t as common as the two right before. But if executed well, it can certainly transform how the site looks. Your content area is on one side and you have two sidebar areas on either the right or the left. Handy if you have information you want to pass on to your community but isn’t dominant enough to warrant on the content section. For example, you want to include multiple link modules, counters, recent threads, server status module and the twitter module. This keeps the viewers eye focused on either the content or the sidebar instead of traversing from one side of the page to the other to look up information or make a selection.

BONUS: CONTENT LARGE SIDEBAR

I’ve got one more for you. It’s practically the same as the content sidebar sidebar layout. But it actually uses one larger sidebar. What I did was I added an extra column to each row to simulate another vertical menu. It’s another option that’s more for aesthetic purposes than anything really. It stands out if your modules happen to have similar heights. You can match them up and it’ll look great.

You don't have to use the exact sizes. Feel free to experiment however you like. Use your mouse and click on the green arrows to manually drag and adjust the size until you're satisfied with what you have.

Don’t have a site on Enjin yet? What’re you waiting for? Go make one now!