Forum Moderators: phranque
In 1999 Jakob Nielsen said:
If we were starting from scratch, we might improve the usability of a site by 1% or so by having a navigation rail on the right rather than on the left. But deviating from the standard would almost certainly impose a much bigger cost in terms of confusion and reduced ability to navigate smoothly.http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991114.html
I assume that like me, many designers have opted to use left/top navigations on the majority of their designs in the past. No doubt some will say that they always use right orientated navigation.
Recently my attention was drawn to this issue when I visited the new website of UK bank Lloyds TSB. www.lloydstsb.com - I spent a brief moment looking at the page and realised that the use of a right navigation column just felt extremely natural to me.
It not only felt natural but looked quite good in relation to the rest of the page. The website's main navigation however is at the top of the page, the right hand column just accommodates more minor links. However the eradication of the left hand column in preference to the right hand design, makes complete sense to me.
In 2001 Audi launched a new website which was based on in depth research carried out by a German company. They opted for right-hand navigation which can still be seen on the audi.com website in 2004. The study can be found here [boxesandarrows.com].
I'm not so sure about the Audi website because the fluid design of the page leaves a certain amount of blank space to the left of the navigation column. This results in an unease when the eye traces from the content back to the navigation panel.
However I believe the layout which Lloyds TSB incorporates should, in my opinion, lead many web designers to more seriously consider the use of right hand navigation in their designs.
Okay I realise that this is an age old discussion and this view may have already been expressed many times, but we still tend to cast aside right navigation for no good or apparent reason.
My opinion: Right hand navigation, in tandem with top navigation actually WORKS. It feels natural.
[edit]To be honest I mainly just use top navigation now. But I might start using right navs.[/edit]
What are your views?
Left is always left, but right can vary with table size, or css layout, or resolution.
If you don't want to waste time coding for various resolutions to insure that your navigation is ALWAYS visible, I'd stick with left.
As can be seen by many large company websites throughout the world, many use fixed layouts. With a fixed layout I'm not wasting time coding for various resolutions to ensure that the navigation is always visible, because there is one fixed design whereby the rightnav is in the same place in relation to the left hand side of the design.
It's simple with a fixed layout; a layout which is used consistently by the best. So this is not a reason not to use right hand navigation.
And as a reply to your other point. There may not be a consistent "right side" of a page. But there is a consistent right hand side of a fixed layout design. Left is always left, right is always right. So I don't see this as a reason not to use a right nav.
So I still cannot see any reasons why the right hand nav design shouldn't be incorporated more often.
