The NEW update does it a little differently: the body element uses flexbox to pull this off, which makes it a lot nicer because the sidebar doesn't have to be a fixed width. It also lets me do some interesting styling. Here's a pic from that new update:

Thanks! I had done the sidebar by making that the first element, using fixed position and giving it 100vh height and a fixed width (300px), then the next element has the actual page content and *that* has a margin-left setting set to the same width as the sidebar.

I'm currently working on a considerable aesthetic update but maybe it might be interesting as is?

melvian.net

I am far more active on Mastodon if you'd like to follow me there: dragonchat.org/@melvian

This is cool, but it's the opposite end of the spectrum for me. I can't see why having even an 800+ char limit is bad... it's not that long, and if it appears too long, truncate it and add a "Read More" button (this is what Mastodon servers typically do).

But whatever, I guess.

This isn't to say that Mastodon is perfect. It definitely has its own issues, and some people unfortunately have not had good luck with the platform. There are also numerous different corners of Mastodon because of it being highly federated, different areas have different cultures.

2) Custom emojis, which bring a new level of interactivity that is impossible to live without once you start using them. For instance, not only are there species-specific emojis (fox, dragon, etc.) but also things like dragon headpats, which feels way better than having to write it out in text.

Mastodon isn't for everyone, maybe Bluesky is a better fit for some. The two things that make Mastodon a better fit for me are:

1) Most servers have larger char limits, allowing posts to be more in-depth without having to split it up, as I have to do here. The server I'm on has a 2048 char limit.

It's likely a mixture of both. At least, that's how it is for me. The microblogging format IMO isn't very conducive to proper social interaction, yet that's how we find most people on the Internet.

I think what I'm trying to get at is that this doesn't feel like the kind of place where people want to converse, it's mainly just looking at each others' art. But perhaps that may be because *I'm* not providing a place for conversation...

It's hard for me because while I make art and people like it, it's almost impossible for me to find accounts that I personally like to follow. And even the accounts I do follow are just basically art posts, and I like seeing them but I don't have anything to say about them.

One thing I had to learn when getting into Bluesky was that I had to take a LOT more initiative to find people to follow than I did when I came on Mastodon. I'm definitely getting more use out of Bsky now than when I initially joined here, but still, something feels a tad missing.

I guess it says something when I frequently check Mastodon a lot, but almost forget about Bluesky until later in the day. Not that Mastodon is perfect.

In case anyone who's interested in my stuff happens to be on Mastodon as well, here's my handle, where I'm WAY more active. dragonchat.org/@melvian

Overall, I'm sticking with Bluesky, but note that I don't post as much on here as I do Mastodon. I mainly post my animations and illustrations on here, but on Mastodon I post those along with other random thoughts that come to my mind.

I'm mainly on Bsky to diversify my social media presence a bit. Especially since I left Tumblr, Cara, and Discord. I refuse to get Instagram, X, or TikTok. I could just be on Masto but being on a single platform feels wrong. In any case I have a website, which is my true Internet residence anyway.

In general my experience on Bsky is mainly an art gallery. People post nice art, but I find Masto to be more interactive and personal. This could be due to differences in culture, features, but could also be due to how I'm approaching Bsky at the moment. I generally don't look through Bsky as much.

I also just dislike how short posts have to be on Bluesky. It discourages thoughtful exchanges IMO. I very easily write much longer posts on Mastodon. In fact I'm even having to abridge some of my writing just to fit each paragraph into its own post.

A feature of Mastodon that feels missing in Bsky is custom emojis. As a dragon, it brings a new level of interaction and play that just can't be replicated as easily on Bsky. As a result, posts that were really meant for Mastodon are completely lost in translation if seen from Bluesky via a bridge.