Navigation bars, at the top or on the left?

I’ve always been a fan of them on the left but most seem to put them on the top. What are your views, does it matter? How about having them at the top and the left?

Definitely not on the right, where they will be out of sight in small window resolutions.

 

On the left is very popular because it will be in view even in a small width window and even if you scroll a bit vertically some or all of it will still be in view, and it can be longer than the width you have for a top navbar, and you can make it position: fixed so it stays visible even when you scroll.

 

Navbars across the top can be made to drop down which often looks better than a left nav flying out to the right. A top navbar can also be position: fixed to be visible when scrolling down.

How about smack bang in the middle? I dont think Ive seen one of them yet

Interesting that last comment.

 

I've done designs with navbars top, bottom, left and right. Basically following what the client instructs.

 

I've also seen some fantastic designs with the navs on the right and it works fine.

 

I'm wary of this attitude that we have to design for the lowest common denoninator (in this case "small window resolution" users). If Walt Disney had this attitude he'd never have done what he did because some people still only had black and white TVs.

 

Know what I mean.

 

Probably more important is where you put the navs in the code. Best for SEO if it goes above or below the site subject content??

 

Go for it. If you're a designer get creative and play with the medium. It's fun, it's creative and it's lovely to come across new ideas. Obviously within sensible limits but this "thou shalt not" attitude is stifling creativity.

 

No disrespect meant Wickham!! :-)

Go for it. If you're a designer get creative and play with the medium. It's fun, it's creative and it's lovely to come across new ideas. Obviously within sensible limits but this "thou shalt not" attitude is stifling creativity.

 

No disrespect meant Wickham!! :-)

 

I was thinking with my "business/company" website hat on where you do need to design a boring functional page !

If I’m designing for a general/ formal audience then personally I’d stick to conventions. Having the nav on the right will confuse users with them not being use to it and it doesn’t follow the f theory so some visitors may leave before finding it.

 

 

I do like seeing new creative designs though.

f theory

 

!!?? What's that when it's at home?

How about if you get to see different parts of the navigation by clicking on the content? ...no wait that's just silly

It all depends on what suits the site design, really. Different designs call for different styles of navigation. Be creative, but don't be idiotic.

Thought my Walt Disney analogy was a good one though. Quite pleased with myself there!!

 

Of course whatever we do, it's go to proved to work by strenuously testing it in all browsers, the most common resolutions etc etc etc

 

Hey Wickham, it's Friday afternoon mate, get yer weekend hat on :-)

F theory - maybe theory isn't the right word but it makes it sound more interesting.

 

 

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

Hmmm I kinda think that if you arranged the content in the shape of a W the viewer would follow a 'W' pattern in their eye movements. Those graphs are just silly

Yeah, I'm not sure what those heat maps tell us. Logically if they're right and we all built sites based on that info just to ensure that users stuck around and went to where we wanted them to, then wouldn't the web become a bland bland BLAND experience.

 

Compare shop windows when we walk down the high street. They're all trying to get punters through the door but what an amazing array of designs we get. Web design should respond to the same criteria.

 

At the same time working within the technical limitations of the web as a media platform.

Thought this was an interesting article: The Case Against Vertical Navigation.

Thought this was an interesting article: The Case Against Vertical Navigation.

 

Interesting; yes, I agree that a left sidebar uses too much valuable screen area.

 

For the record, all my websites over the past two or three years have used a horizontal drop down menu across the top which is position: fixed so it's always visible when scrolling down, and I'm happy with that arrangement.

Just one last point on this.

 

Coincidentally I'm working on a Wordpress blog today and just choosing a theme. Guess what, look at how they all have navs on the right!!!

 

 

Confusing or what!!!?

 

I like the idea of putting the navs wack down the middle mrchristoph - now I expect the discussion will be horizontally or vertically???