Just Curious (Full Version)

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BeTheBall -> Just Curious (5/2/2006 16:56:29)

Four or five years ago when I first started getting involved in web development it seemed like most sites had navigation on the left and content on the right. Lately, I am seeing a lot of navigation menus on the right and the content on the left. From an accessibility standpoint, this seems to make sense. A Skip Navigation link would be unnecessary given that the content would come first. Does anyone know if this is a motivating factor behind so many sites moving navigation to the right side of the layout?



dpf -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 16:59:44)

its merely the acccessibility pleading of the Society for Protection of Left-Handers



Tailslide -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 17:31:35)

It's just fashion- there's no accessibility reason for it.

Then again, personally I tend to prefer nav on the right hand side as I'm right handed - less movement of the mouse and I find it easier for my eye to travel back to the start of the next line of text if it's against the edge of the site rather than next to a load of distracting navigation - but that may well just be me.

The order of content in the source doesn't matter at all because you can place the content wherever you like on the page visually and have pretty much whatever order you like in the markup. It would still be an idea to provide skip links if you have content first - just this time it'd go to the navigation instead. Very useful.



Nicole -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 17:33:16)

Duane,

I'm not sure why it's always been that way, maybe it's something that websites just adopted from print media?

I also see no reason why you shouldn't put a menu on the right, and instead of having a "Skip to Content" or "Skip Navigation", you could have a "Skip to Navigation" or Skip Content" link.

Nicole



rubyaim -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 20:08:50)

I experimented with right hand navigation and got complaints from some users so switched back to left.

There was a post here last year by Tailslide about source order that was interesting:
quote:

This article includes some research (although not exactly a massive sample group used) which shows that the majority of users of text readers expect to find navigation BEFORE the content and it could actually be confusing to people if the content came first.


As a side note - Our company hired a marketing guru some time ago and he went through a lot of our printed documents and offered suggestions for improvements.

One of his points was that when a native reader of English (the 'average person') looks at a page, their eye was always drawn to the right hand side first and suggested we place things there we wanted noticed.

I found myself doing this and when I go to a webpage do tend to look right first - I don't really notice left hand nav until I want to use it but it seems to stand out if on the right.



dpf -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 20:55:05)

quote:

shows that the majority of users of text readers expect to find navigation BEFORE the content
what a surprise! i always expect the table of contents before chapter one. as for this:
quote:

One of his points was that when a native reader of English (the 'average person') looks at a page, their eye was always drawn to the right hand side first
seems odd that left to right reader would look right first - would an Arabic reader look left first, I wonder?



rubyaim -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 21:05:04)

quote:

seems odd that left to right reader would look right first - would an Arabic reader look left first, I wonder?


No idea. I was dubious at first but I do tend to look to the right first. What I don't know is if I've always done that or started doing it when it was pointed out [&:]

Mind you, this could be a 'conditioning' thing for those of us who drive on the left hand side of the road. As soon as we start walking we are taught to look right, look left and then look right again [:D]



rubyaim -> RE: Just Curious (5/2/2006 21:29:37)

Just googled left / right navigation and read the first page that came up:

http://jodi.tamu.edu/Articles/v04/i01/Kalbach/

Bottom line is that is makes no real difference - study of 64 users broken into two groups.

quote:


Right-hand users, who make up a majority of the general population, may find a right-hand navigation more comfortable.

A drawback to a right-justified navigation menu, however, is the interaction with the browser's back button. The back button is located in the upper left corner of most browsers.


My personal preference is "I don't care where the nav is as long as I can find it".



jaybee -> RE: Just Curious (5/3/2006 7:07:46)

I have right hand nav on my site. Why? Just liked the look of the design, no other reason.



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