Should a Sidebar Go On the Left or Right?
April 7th 2008 
Image by Apesara Whether you use a 3 column layout or a 2 column layout, you have to choose which side you want your content on, and which side you want your sidebar on. Left or right? Which is best?
As always, the answer is; it depends on your blog.
Why Have It On the Right?
- Western readers read left to right. When scanning a page, we will scan left to right (And top to bottom). Put your sidebar on the right, and the first thing a reader will scan over will be your content.
- Many people still use 800x600 resolution. When designing your theme, it's tempting to work with a 1024px wide layout. The extra space is great for the majority of your users.
However, a good few are still on 800x600 monitors, and will have an annoying horizontal scrollbar to work with. If your content is on the left, they will not have to scroll to read it. The scrollbar will only be needed to see the sidebar.
- Your blog will look like a blog. As a blogger, I would rather read an article on a blog than on a regular website. I love the personal nature of blogs, how they're written by people who are truly enthusiastic about their topics, and the social interactions possible. Most bloggers will feel the same.
Why On the Left?
- Western readers read left to right. In the same way as above, readers will see the left side of the page first. If you blog for profit, your ads may be more important than your content. Put your sidebar on the left so that readers eyes have to drift over them.
- The eye tends to focus on the center of the page. With your content on the right, the headline starts closer to that center than it would if the content was on the left. The result is that it is easier for the reader's eye to skip straight to the content.
This is more true for minimalist sites, which don't have other attention grabbing elements to distract the natural eye movement (For example, Astheria)
- Matt Harzewski has an interesting idea on how different types of sidebar content could influence the decision. Read more in Right vs. Left Sidebar.
Sidebars that are mainly navigation should go on the left because it feels more natural to look for navigation there. If you have a lot of navigational links, it might be a good idea to put them in a sidebar.
Conclusion
In most cases, the strongest argument is for the sidebar to be on the right. Putting your content first is paramount for most of us, and I want my blog to look like a blog.
However, every design is unique, and different designs have different requirements.
Priority for the adverts or ultra-minimalist designs are two such situations, but there are many more. Depending on the style and graphics in your theme, a left sidebar may feel better. And if it feels right, it usually is right.
Which side is your sidebar on? Did you consciously put it there, or was it a natural decision?
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Find other posts tagged with: Content, eye-tracking, Layout, left, resolution, right, Sidebar
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April 7th at 8:28 am GMT
Comment #1
Once you go right, you can't go back.
The biggest reason it is on the right for me is because I want to prioritize my content. But either way I think most people would just block it off in their mind eventually so they just focus on the content. But the right sidebar is awesome. You should had put up a poll Michael! Good article.
April 7th at 8:57 am GMT
Comment #2
Sorry, but do you really think that many users still go with 800x600? I'd even say - beside some wide screen notebooks and a stupid eeepc - the most common resolution these days is AFAIK 1280x1024,...
April 7th at 9:29 am GMT
Comment #3
I personally prefer to have sidebars on the right, feels more "natural". Maybe it's because I'm right-handed (mouse on the right), does anyone who is left-handed feel different?
April 7th at 10:14 am GMT
Comment #4
I would say, stick to the right-side sidebar i.e. stick to the trend, it reduces learning curve of your readers and will make them comfortable at your blog.
April 7th at 11:19 am GMT
Comment #5
Very useful tips! I would say that the majority of blog themes have their sidebar positioned to the right, even those blogs oriented towards ad revenue.
@Timo: I agree and disagree. Unless over 80% of the net are still using computers from 1998, most computers from 2000-present came with at least a 17-inch monitor.
April 7th at 11:26 am GMT
Comment #6
My sidebar is on the right, and I based that decision on something I read on this site: http://www.diveintoaccessibility.org/. It's a site containing articles about adjusting your site to special website readers for - for example - blind people. One article says that it's best to put the sidebar on the right, especially for people who are blind, because they have a browser who reads the website text for them. If the sidebar is on the left the browser first reads all the sidebar content for them and after that the blog itself will be read. The main point of a weblog is the content of your blog, so it's much easier if that is read to people first, instead of the sidebar.
It's a really useful website for designing your website so it's best viewable for everybody. It also focuses on colorblind people for example, or people with a slow modem.
April 7th at 12:48 pm GMT
Comment #7
I personally love how sidebars look on the right. It just seems more modern to me. I've been designing web sites for 10 years now, and I've seen / done the top and right side navigation a few too many times, I think, lol.
I do find that with more traditional sites, I'll still put the sidebar to the left. But if it is for a blog, or if the client is not as conservative of a company, I'll move it over to the right.
Good food for thought, though! I'll be interested to see the rest of the comments!
April 7th at 12:55 pm GMT
Comment #8
Excellent points, Michael and commenters.
I guess it depends somewhat on what your audience wants or expects. Maybe someday it will be easier to visit a blog and just drag and drop the sidebar at will.
I have my sidebar at the right mainly for the left-to-right reading reason. I want people to look first at the main content.
April 7th at 2:16 pm GMT
Comment #9
For a blog I always put it on the right as it puts more focus on the content. For more corporate sites I tend to put it on the left as thats what people are used it.
April 7th at 3:55 pm GMT
Comment #10
Thanks for the link.
As I said in my post, it really depends on how you structure your site. In my opinion, the reason blogs often have their sidebars to the right is because they tend to have less navigational links in the sidebar, relying on tagclouds, search forms, and other "bloggy" navigation methods. Arguably, yes, right sidebars do help highlight the content too.
April 7th at 3:59 pm GMT
Comment #11
I have no sidebars.
Mine's mainly a photography blog and I wanted a clean look that would not detract from the photos.
April 7th at 4:41 pm GMT
Comment #12
I agree with the general consensus here: blog sidebars to the right! One other reason for this can be the impact on page loading time. Many bloggers have scripts and widgets in their sidebar which can take a while longer to load than the main content of the page. If these are in a left sidebar (and appear first in the page markup), this can make the actual content appear some time after the post itself. Whereas if the sidebar is to the right, readers can browse the article while these scripts load.
Many bloggers do still seem to prefer two sidebars to the left and right of the main posts section though!
April 7th at 7:44 pm GMT
Comment #13
For SEO reasons the sidebar should always be right, as it's common practice now.
Lately I've been working on a client site from Bahrain, where the visitors tend to read form right to left, do the searchengines read it this way too?
April 8th at 5:12 am GMT
Comment #14
sh***t!!! I have the side bar on the wrong side of my blog. Why didn't you say that before? Hahahaha,
April 8th at 5:22 am GMT
Comment #15
I keep my sidebar on the left. I think I got used to it and since most blogs I encounter have their sidebars on the left, I'd rather not confuse my visitors. Anyway, the drag-and-drop design interface of www.i.ph makes it easier for me to change the location of my sidebar anyway if i wanted it.:)
April 9th at 7:01 pm GMT
Comment #16
I prefer the sidebar to be on the right side of the page, the content is king, put that where the eye focuses on first.
April 10th at 10:37 am GMT
Comment #17
I think the side bar should go on the right. I think the first thing the user should see is the entry.
April 12th at 2:18 am GMT
Comment #18
My quite long sidebar is on the right, so that content loads first. So I resist the trend toward short sidebars, but still try to have the content show up first.
April 12th at 4:44 pm GMT
Comment #19
Western readers read left to right. <=-- hehe, Actually Asians read left to right too.
Yes, in the past Chinese do have books that go from right to left and top to bottom.
It's not like that these days.
We're going left to right too. Not sure about other non-Western languages though.
I've discussed this matter on navigation bar location - the reason why blog has it on the right because CONTENT / ENTRIES get priority.
On a typical website that's not a blog, the nav will be on the left (or top) as it gives a summary of what's on the site.
April 13th at 11:22 am GMT
Comment #20
First, thank you for your article about sidebar on the left or right side on a webpage.
I prefer the sidebar on the right side, like most people here. I think, the content are too important and i want to read the content. Later, if i want to discover the webpage i use the sidebar. I will create the sidebar on my blog ( i hope this summer ) on the right side.
Ralph
April 14th at 5:34 am GMT
Comment #21
Milo - you're absolutely right. For SEO purposes, the sidebar is better off on the right. In most cases, you will want to place your main content where it is easily detectable by the search engines, just as it is for your readers. Typically, if you have too much in front of your main content, it could register as a "skipped" area, and be passed over by search engines, as well as your AdSense or other content driven advertising.
April 15th at 11:58 pm GMT
Comment #22
I think it greatly depends on the layout of the site although I greatly believe that right nav sidebars are greatly ignored compared to the historical left nav bar.
It's funny you wrote this. I actually just recently flipped my page. Nav bar from right to left.
April 17th at 1:35 am GMT
Comment #23
I recently went with the Shifter theme from buzzdroid and it has a neat little feature that allows the user to choose which side to place the sidebar. At the top of my site, alongside the rss icon, click the black buttons to see how it works.
April 22nd at 3:36 am GMT
Comment #24
Michael, your contents teach me a lot,. i realize design it's not just playing with line, color, and shape. more over we learn and design how to make the readers feels cozy in our blog,. love it! you should make an e-book!
^^
April 27th at 12:27 am GMT
Comment #25
800x600 eh? Check your stats, homie.
May 8th at 3:01 pm GMT
Comment #26
in my experience i place it based on the design... essentially whereever it looks best. most of the time this is to the right however