benry blog » Usability http://www.benry.net/blog Musings on User Experience, Design, Web Analytics and other interests Mon, 03 May 2010 16:00:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Right-hand vs. left-hand navigation http://www.benry.net/blog/2007/03/03/right-hand-vs-left-hand-navigation/ http://www.benry.net/blog/2007/03/03/right-hand-vs-left-hand-navigation/#comments Sat, 03 Mar 2007 04:58:48 +0000 Scott http://www.benry.net/blog/2007/03/03/right-hand-vs-left-hand-navigation/ Right-hand vs. left-hand navigation is a post from: benry blog

]]> On the NSCU site we have positioned the navigation on the right, rather than the traditional left-hand side [example: our credit cards page]. Often when the site gets reviewed by an outside consultancy or “expert”, they comment on the navigation position and suggest we move it to the left. Afterall “that’s the way everyone does it”, their used to it, don’t break the affordance, etc…

I’m open to change, but reluctant to do so based on little more than personal preference. I prefer to test, evaluate, then act. So far we haven’t changed it because I have yet to see a user during on our numerous usability testing sessions having trouble using it, nor have we seen an impact on the site’s ease-of-use. In fact, we found that visitors engaged more with page content (now at the left they see the content not the navigation first) and made use of more of the page information (e.g. read more of the page) than when there was navigation at the left. Additionally the proximity to the scroll bar and the fact that most are right-handed, makes browsing easier — Fitt’s Law in action.

So I was pleasently surprised today to see the folks at Free Usability Advice answer my question about our navigation that I had submitted a couple months ago and agree with our direction. Their response listen to your users and your data over expert opinion.

My question

Our site uses a right-hand navigation, rather than the traditional left-hand navigation. We’ve tested this extensively and the results have always been very positive. Experts tell us to move the navigation to the left. Should we listen to experts or our users?

Their answer

If you’ve done extensive testing of your website with the correct types of users and the right sample size, and the users had no trouble with right-hand navigation, then trust the user data over expert opinion.

While it’s true that left-hand navigation is more common and more expected than right-hand navigation, remember that standards and guidelines merely provide a starting point for design. In absence of data to support going against a standard, the standard should be followed. However, we’ve seen several instances where, because the user audience was different from “the norm” or because of other causes, a standard wasn’t the best answer.

Some of the arguements for and against right-hand navigation:

Right-hand vs. left-hand navigation is a post from: benry blog

]]> http://www.benry.net/blog/2007/03/03/right-hand-vs-left-hand-navigation/feed/ 2