Made some real progress on this. Still want to add a few features before releasing. I am liking this better than the sidebar already. Namely want to add the customizable personal list you can drag/drop communities to to "pin" them to the bar. New options icon too. Still some to do but the functionality is very nice and is coming along. Still styling to do... etc..
Just thought I'd share. I am having a whole lot going on in personal life right now so it may be a few days before I can get this out. Maybe not, just depends :)
Just wanted to share