I'm a developer so I love cramming in all the shiny objects and even more shiny objects in the box. Problem is that most people won't use 80% of the features. It's an addiction I fight daily.
I'm a big fan of Steve Jobs mentality of keeping things simple as hell too which helps keep that addiction under control.
So, the left bar slider is probably something I'd stay away from since most people now have 15" monitors or more importantly are on mobile.
I've seen very few sites that actually accommodate mobile. Sure, they are responsive but that doesn't mean they are mobile. Our site is mobile responsive is just a marketing.
Another topic that is hardly covered is the 1 page threshold. I'm going to say that 50-60% of people don't scroll to the second page. So if the CTA is anywhere not at the top and your hero is there, you have lost out.
I am mention ADA compliance a lot. Previous company I worked for created a beautiful design. On the day of the demo, I said it wasn't complaint. The Design Team manager was all butt hurt and said it was. 6 months later, we were redoing the design because it wasn't. Dealers are lucky they are making enough money to be getting emails from lawyers. These lawyers are 1000% ambulance chasers. So,TLDR; I agree with you!
What I'm working on is pure self built. I am a app/web developer by day job but have moved up to management. I'll share with you in a few days after I clean up some of the bugs I found. I had to fire a developer recently so this roll out go delayed.
