Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design

I usually prefer to have it on the left side to, as a webmaster as well as a visitor. It feels most natural to me. But thats probably because of the old days of the internet…whereas nowadays a typical blog for instance has the navigation on the right side. An advantage of that is that search engine crawlers get to index all the unique content first before the navigation panel (vs last with left navigation panel).

For accessibility reasons, regardless of actual placement, it’s good to have the primary navigation close to the top of the HTML file because it’s one of the first things users will seek. Usually for me that means rendering it in the header or in a left-hand column (though I could use CSS to render it in the right-hand column, the logic of that escapes me).

When you disable scripts and CSS in your browser, or when you use a text-only browser like Lynx, the navigation should be among the first elements presented because it’s almost always going to be one of the most useful elements.

I’m an accessibility freak, though, so this is more important to me than it is to some. When blind users land on a page, they will generally need 1) An H1 heading that gives reassurance that they are where they want to be, 2) Navigation that is functional without javascript or other client-side assistance, and 3) Semantic structure. Because those elements benefit sighted users too, I would build this way for everyone.

Interesting article. I have also heard that you want the text on the left side and navigation widgets, etc. on the right – for SEO purposes.

I think the best place to place it is in the top header horizontally.
Reasons:
- First to load as visitors always seek for it
- Horizontal Movement of the hand holding a mouse is more comfortable than vertical movement
- preferably try to put on the left side as when the browser is resized, the navigation links stays visible, and as codes are parsed from left to right.

I don’t know why, but I have always found it easier to use websites that have the navigational links located in the right panel. Perhaps because we read from left to right?

I’m always prefer to put my navigation menu right below the header, horizontally.

I have to agree that most of the time the left hand side is best… but i some special cases, like custom designs, top or even right can add a different flare.

In some cases the type of menu (DHTML, HTML, Flash) may dictate it placement.

Just remember to keep it simple, easy .
and clean.
Gregory Hanes
The Yin Yang Group
Website Design

Hi,
Left Hand side menu is suitable for one who writes from left to right
Regards
www.marka-turk.com

I like the menu on the left side. Rss and text widges can be at the right.

With trend changing and everything becoming customer / user centric, it is always better to research one’s user group and then take call – Navigation Left/Right/top/Bottom.

I suggest one should not go by general set industry standards or even what experts say. What is right for one set of audience is totally different for another group of users.

Understand – Discuss – Research – Study – Analyze and then take a call…

I find top left sidebar is great for placing navigation links.