Left Hand Nav?

Question

Why do all most all web pages have a left hand navigation rather than a right? When the internet was first created and navigation was born, do you think we'd all use right hand navigation had it started out that way?

Answer 1

UED -- usability experience design -- now dictates pretty much that if the primary nav is on top the secondary nav is on the left. Because the majority of the sites have the nav on the left, users are used to having a navigation on the left. So, because people are used to it, UED requires it, and b/c UED requires it, designers and coders put it on the left, which makes more sites like that which makes more people used to it, which encourages UED to require it... and the cycle continues.

Now, with cell phones and web accessibilty in mind being more common, we might start seeing nav on the right more often... it really makes more sense in terms of page code flow. http://alistapart.com/ is a web developer guru site - and the nav is correctly on the righ in terms of standards and flow. Isn't it annoying when every time you flip from page to page on a cell phone you first have to go thru all the navigational elements? That's why it will start shifting to the right... or after the guts of the page.

HOpe that explains it.