See coupon codes in a sidebar, alongside almost any online store. Sidepon relies on user-contributed coupon codes to function, is quick to check and doesn’t require you to register for or install anything in order to work.

We’ve previously shown you the top ten sites for online coupons and promotional codes. Sidepon was made to be like these sites, but with a better UI – one that works alongside the store you’re shopping at instead of running in its own tab . To quote the site’s about page, presumably written by  creator Kenson Goo:

“[Other coupon] websites help save me money, but their user interfaces are terrible! Having me click back-and-forth multiple ‘Tabs’ and ‘Windows’ between RetailMeNot.com and my shopping websites to try out coupon codes forced me to buy another monitor in 2010. I would have one screen with RetailMeNot.com opened, and another screen having the website that I am shopping at, just because of their poor UI”.

Wow. I hope Kenson found a decent coupon for that second monitor. How much time did he spend buying things online? Anyway, I’m glad no one else will need to purchase a second monitor just for browsing coupons.

Sidepon In Use

To start, head to Sidepon. There’s a simple search bar there – start typing the name of the store you’re looking for. It will almost certainly pop up.

There seems to be thousands of stores here, but I couldn’t find a complete list. Just visit the site and start typing; you’ll probably find the store you’re looking for. When you do, you’ll see current coupons for the store you’re looking at, alongside the store.

Here’s how it looks for the Kobo bookstore:

Users vote on whether the coupon codes work or not, so you’ve got a reasonable expectation that everything is in order. You can also add your own coupons, thus helping everyone else. It’s a great site to check if you plan on buying anything from anyone; even the major retailers offer great online coupons every once in a while.

I wish the coupons would filter based on the product I’m looking at, but alas, coupons shown appear to be site-wide as of this writing. That doesn’t mean this isn’t worth checking out, however, so give it a shot.

There are no ads on Sidepon, but I suspect the site gets its revenue from all of these stores affiliate programs. I’m fine with that, because the service is saving me money.

Other Ways To Save Money

We’ve highlighted a few ways to save money here at MakeUseOf. Here are some recent highlights:

• Use WalkScore when apartment hunting; save on gas
• Rent or buy college textbooks cheaply
• Find free stuff with “Hey, it’s free!”
• Five ways to save money while travelling on vacation

Conclusion

Sidepon is a stupid name, but it’s a stupid name for a great idea. I hope this site grows, picks up more users and collects great coupons. It deserves to succeed in my opinion – it’s a web-app done right.

Do you disagree? Let me know just how wrong I am in the comments below. You can simply write “UR WRONG”, if you like, or you can provide me with a service that does online coupons better than Sidepon. Actually, now that I think about it, just forget the all caps proclamation of my wrongness and skip straight to the list of better services, if there are any.