[Sigia-l] Right Side Navigation

[Scott Nelson]

On 6-Jul-04, at 6:28 PM, Russ Unger wrote:

> What does the browser rendering direction have to do with anything?

I used to very simply sum this up by saying to people that I had more 
control over the top left corner of the window than the bottom right.

This meant, simply, that if the top left of 0,0 I can pretty much 
always count on what's there based on my design. As you get farther 
away from 0 (in both directions) the user's preferences begin to 
matter. For example:
- Not a maximized window? That thing I want to be on the home page at 
the bottom may not appear.
- User has a large font size? Text is going to flow differently and any 
text links/wrapped images may not appear as I anticipated.

Simple examples, and certainly in the modern era where one can create 
pixel perfect layouts for multiple font sizes with multiple style 
sheets the rules have changed. The question is: is the multiple style 
sheet angle realistic for many sites?

I personally think right side navigation can work, but it does have 
limitations. Then again, so does left: you're chewing up screen space 
no matter what.

But I do agree with the fundamental assertion: browser rendering 
direction *does* have an impact on how design works and how one can 
choose to implement designs.
--
Scott Nelson
scott at penguinstorm.com