[Jatin]

Sidebar is a major feature in Windows Vista which boosts your personal productivity by providing instant access to gadgets—a wide variety of engaging, easy-to-use, and customizable mini-applications that offer information at a glance and provide easy access to frequently used tools. For those who want to enjoy the Vista look alike sidebar in Windows XP please check these links:

Thoosje Vista Sidebar
thoosje has released a new version of his nice looking sidebar for Windows XP users which looks very similar to Vista's sidebar.
Download: Thoosje Vista Sidebar
View: Screenshot

M!W sidebar
A nice looking sidebar gadget created by M!W with lots of features
Download: M!W sidebar
View: Screenshot

Yahoo Widgets Sidebar
SidePanel is a skinnable Widget made by Richard Kyle which allows users to add a panel to their screen so that Widgets may be placed on top of it. Similar to the Windows Vista Sidebar.
Download: Yahoo Widgets Sidebar
View: Screenshot

AveDesk Sidebar
A simple guide to use AveDesk for adding shadow under Taskbar. You can do the same for adding Vista style sidebar to your desktop.
View: The guide

Samurize Vista Sidebar
Windows Vista style sidebars for Samurize users. Samurize is an advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows 2000/XP/2003.
Download: Samurize Vista Sidebar
View: Screenshot

Original Vista Sidebar Ported to XP
The original Windows Vista sidebar and it's gadgets have been ported to Windows XP (unofficially) but the sidebar.exe is being treated as a warez so distribution is not permitted here.
For those who has Vista, here's a small guide about how to get it running it on Windows XP.
Download: Patch and the guide
View: Discussion thread 1
View: Discussion thread 2

eXP Sidebar
eXP is a sidebar for Windows XP which is written in C#. It imitates the Vista sidebar's look & feel. This program is in developing stage right now.
View: eXP sidebar

Desktop Sidebar
Desktop Sidebar provides you with instant access to the information you most desire by grabbing data from your PC and the internet. The result is a dynamic visual display you configure and control. Lots of plugins/panels and skins make it one of the most populat sidebar app.
Download: Desktop Sidebar
View: Screenshot

SmartBarXP
This sidebar can be configured to display interactive panels known as 'panes'. These panes include media players, slideshow and image viewing panes, a virtual desktop manager, and live news, weather and stock feeds to mention but a few. The panes can be repositioned on the bar, and scrolled if the bar becomes too full. The bar can also be host to extra sections, which include a recycle bin, explorer shortcuts, and taskbar replacement sections (start button, taskbar buttons and system tray sections).
Download: SmartBarXP
View: Screenshots

SpyderBar
From the makers of StyleXP, this sidebar is highly responsive, intuitive, and skinnable. Although feature packed, it remains lightweight with an executable size of just 1 MB. It is the ONLY user interface of its kind (more on this below). You can dock, undock, and even throw around panels.
Download: SpyderBar
View: Screenshots

Codename: Dashboard
Codename: Dashboard is an application that docks to the side of your screen and acts as a host for interchangeable components. Through these components, you can have access to any information you want on your screen, all the time.
Download: Codename: Dashboard 2.0
View: Screenshot

Google Desktop Sidebar
It surely doesn't look like Vista sidebar but if we are talking about the sidebars then this program should be mentioned here. Google Desktop supports gadgets now. Gadgets are mini-applications which can be anything from games to search tools to media players, and they can be any shape and size use a weather globe to show you the latest forecast.
Download: Google Desktop
View: Screenshot

This post will be updated whenever someting new related to "vista sidebar for xp" will be released.

Update:
Vista Rainbar by Legace
Samurize Longhorn Sidebar

[cmkumar2k]

excellent... everything about sidebar in one thread.... thanks Jatin for the thread.....

[joejoe]

BTW, eXP is not down

[Loko Lizzie]

how do i set a darn avatar on this board? i'd like to put up a picture

[Jatin]

joejoe, on Jul 18 2006, 11:38 AM, said:

BTW, eXP is not down

I just realised that and removed the down tag from there
Can you let us know about the progress of this sidebar. I think it is the proper time to release it because people seem to be anxious about vista now a days

@Loko Lizzie click here and upload any image (not bigger than 128 pixels)

[joejoe]

Jatin, on Jul 19 2006, 12:33 AM, said:

joejoe, on Jul 18 2006, 11:38 AM, said:

BTW, eXP is not down

I just realised that and removed the down tag from there
Can you let us know about the progress of this sidebar. I think it is the proper time to release it because people seem to be anxious about vista now a days

k
Beta 1 was released to testers and Beta 2 (public release) is about to come
Here is a screenshot

[The Silent Warrior]

Great thread. It will help in taking decision, which sidebar is to be used

[thoosje]

WOW cool
thanks admin for putting my sidebar in the list to

[sendo72]

thoosje your sidebar is the coolest!

[thoosje]

sendo72, on Jul 19 2006, 08:08 PM, said:

thoosje your sidebar is the coolest!

realy
i liked the smartbar xp the most to bad its never finished to bad it was awesome sidebar
lol
but soon the final version of my sidebar wil be released and i need beta testers lol
i need people to sign up lol

[Jatin]

thoosje, on Jul 19 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

WOW cool
thanks admin for putting my sidebar in the list to

This list is absolutely incomplete without your sidebar

[thoosje]

Jatin, on Jul 20 2006, 11:48 PM, said:

thoosje, on Jul 19 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

WOW cool
thanks admin for putting my sidebar in the list to

This list is absolutely incomplete without your sidebar

lol

[Muffsdawg]

thoosje, on Jul 21 2006, 12:55 AM, said:

Jatin, on Jul 20 2006, 11:48 PM, said:

thoosje, on Jul 19 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

WOW cool
thanks admin for putting my sidebar in the list to

This list is absolutely incomplete without your sidebar

lol

Your amazing.

[k3nny]

Very useful news to have all the sidebars in one place.
But i have some things to correct...

its M!W and not W!M ... and

there is also a pretty nice sidebar called Dashboard

[Jatin]

k3nny
I have updated the first post, thanks.

If anyone knows about more good sidebar apps for Windows XP, please post the links here.