[Sigia-l] potential challenge to the dominance of the left nav bar in local navigation

[Thomas Vander Wal]

I have tried and tested multiple navigation locations with various 
permeations.  I have twice tried and tested a top nav (with global site 
navigation), left nav (application/tool and hierarchical navigation) and 
right nav (germane to the content on the page or germane to the section 
of the sight, such as metadata viewers, more detailed information, and 
related information pages).  The three nav bars failed to have most 
users find the links in the right navigation bar no mater what color 
combinations we tried.  However, using right by itself was successful on 
other sites I have tested.  I have found lesser success with a top and 
right nav compared to a top and left nav.

There can be solid accessibility benefits from using a righthand 
navigation, as users with sight assisted reading applications do not 
have to skip the navigation as it will be read at the end of the page 
then read what is on the right side of the page.  Another benefit of 
right navigation is when printing from fixed width sites.  The right 
navigation can be dropped from a printed page and still allow the users 
of the information get all the content they are desiring on the printed 
page at full width of the printed page.  Printing from a Web page has a 
print margin at about 645 to 670 pixels, depending on the OS, browser, 
and printer make and model.

It comes down to who is using the site and what the users want to do 
with the site and how will they use the information.

All the best,
Thomas

Samantha Bailey wrote:
> Just came across this on Tomalak and think it's worth paying attention to
> from an IA/ID and UI perspective. The critical point to note is that they
> are changing their UI to accommodate this (this being an effort to give more
> screen real estate to ads, similar to in the print world). According to the
> article the plan is to move their local nav from the left to the top. If
> this proves successful it could have a significant impact on the defacto
> conventions that have grown up around the left nav (and if it's not
> successful that could also suggest that the left nav dominance in UI design
> is really here to stay, although that's a bit more of a reach).
> 
> Wall Street Journal: New York Times' Web Site Plans Print-Like Ad Format.
> The New York Times' Web site will begin displaying half-page magazine-style
> ads adjacent to its articles, making its online pages appear more similar
> to their print counterparts.
> http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB1044045107442450944,00.html
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> 
> Samantha Bailey
> samantha at baileysorts.com | http://baileysorts.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
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