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 800×600 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 800×600 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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Vinh Le (4 comments)7 April 08
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.
Timo Zimmermann (8 comments)7 April 08
Sorry, but do you really think that many users still go with 800×600? I’d even say – beside some wide screen notebooks and a stupid eeepc – the most common resolution these days is AFAIK 1280×1024,…
Mike Robinson (6 comments)7 April 08
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?
kuldeep (10 comments)7 April 08
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.
Jeremiah (1 comments)7 April 08
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.
Sanne (1 comments)7 April 08
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.
Selene M. Bowlby (4 comments)7 April 08
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!
Easton Ellsworth (6 comments)7 April 08
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.
Pete White (6 comments)7 April 08
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.
redwall_hp (134 comments)7 April 08
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.
photoTristan (1 comments)7 April 08
I have no sidebars.
Mine’s mainly a photography blog and I wanted a clean look that would not detract from the photos.
Amanda Fazani (3 comments)7 April 08
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!
milo (72 comments)7 April 08
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?
Uri (3 comments)8 April 08
sh***t!!! I have the side bar on the wrong side of my blog. Why didn’t you say that before? Hahahaha,
Ade (1 comments)8 April 08
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 http://www.i.ph makes it easier for me to change the location of my sidebar anyway if i wanted it.:)
Michael (18 comments)9 April 08
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.
Gavin (5 comments)10 April 08
I think the side bar should go on the right. I think the first thing the user should see is the entry.
SB (2 comments)12 April 08
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.
goldfries (81 comments)12 April 08
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.
Ralph (9 comments)13 April 08
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
thinsurface (1 comments)14 April 08
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.
Taylor (1 comments)15 April 08
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.
Chip (1 comments)17 April 08
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.
#addict (1 comments)22 April 08
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!
^^
Ched (1 comments)27 April 08
800×600 eh? Check your stats, homie.
DazzleCat (8 comments)8 May 08
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
exfatguy (2 comments)14 May 08
I definitely pick the rightside. Most my readers love it that way. I’m using firefox and love the list of bookmarks on the left side. That’s why i pick the rightside. Easy for me to read.
VeraBradley (2 comments)16 May 08
I never knew that so many factors could affect the placement of sidebars. Especially the Western and Eastern readers. But i guess if having in on the right would be the most, blog-ish looking format.
zohai (2 comments)16 May 08
I’ve used to put my sidebar on the left. (Long long time ago) Well since it catches the attention of the viewer where they go via the navigation menu. But since the usage of blogs the contents are usually in the main page thus the sidebar becomes redundant. Sidebars now usually filled with links, ads, etc that are not so important thus I think right is a better choice now =)
Journey (2 comments)16 May 08
o.0 i have mine on both side. after reading this i might reconsider puttin important and attractive stuff on the left side bar n the normal usual stuff on the right.
jobbank (4 comments)18 May 08
I like it to be on the right side..I am more of the right person.haha.
blisters (3 comments)20 May 08
Actually, as a right hander, i always find it more, convenient to have the bar on the right. It makes less of a travelling, especially for those with huge resolution monitors, and low dpi mouse.
space code (3 comments)21 May 08
I always like my sidebars on the right side. easier to read the content first then only the sidebar.
I find that its rather weird if its on the left. Probably coz Im not used to it
loans (2 comments)23 May 08
agree with space code, right handed will feel more comfortable if read from right to left..
Baz L (1 comments)27 May 08
SEO was my main reason for having a right aligned sidebard…but later, I just got to like the look.
liam (5 comments)3 June 08
Personally I don’t have a preference. I think it’s just as easy to browse a site with a right sidebar as it is a left sidebar. As long as it looks clean and easy to read and distinguish as a sidebar then it doesn’t matter to me what side it is on.
Manuel (4 comments)4 July 08
I prefer the sidebar on the right side. It seems more modern and the reader is focused on the content.
Matt (9 comments)18 September 08
Had it on the left, and I switched to the right, basically for the same reason as Vinh Le. Nice short and sweet post.
Daus (2 comments)29 September 08
Definitely, right. Or you can hide it like mine
Jack (8 comments)18 October 08
Good article, for me I’ve experimented with both but for some reason I always find myself sticking my sidebar on the RHS of pages, for reasons already mentioned above.
Steve Holmes (1 comments)21 October 08
Always on the right for me..
Kevin (19 comments)28 October 08
has anyone done any split testing to see if right hand converts for ads or subscriptions better?
Ray The Money Man (1 comments)10 November 08
I must say that I am “right leaning” LOL Seriously, great post. Your blog has been a great resource of blogging do’s and don’t’s.
SLoB (1 comments)25 November 08
As others have mentioned as long as the content and the sidebar content is clear and well structured it doesn’t really matter that much.
I would say that top right sidebar content would be less visible as the user does not quite read from left to right, there is a drop off curve from reading left to right so some ads esp top right corner might well get less views/clicks, where as if they were top left then they are in prime view.
If you have a blog on a corporate site that had left sidebar I would think shifting to a right sidebar for the blog (that should be seamless) would be a wrong choice and to keep it to the left as to avoid confusing users.
Otherwise blogs do look better right sidebar
As for the 800*600 rule, I would say look at the site logs/stats to determine the best course of action, could always make the main content panel liquid with a min/max width so that it behaves correctly in different resolutions, but targeting 1024 is what I have used for the past year now in all of my designs, with the occasional ECommerce site that could go down to 800 (just to catch the odd sale from that userbase).
john - laptop (8 comments)27 November 08
i agree with your opinon. thank you for this post. very intresting. i like it.
andol (2 comments)2 December 08
my side bar is right, haha
Snake (14 comments)12 January 09
I prefer having it on the right, and the content in the left or center it looks very good.
wombat (3 comments)12 January 09
Love how each response is centred around the users “preference” and how this relates more to whatever the person in question is used to, whether its blogs or corporate sites, and importantly what they have used in their own productions. We tend to defend what we like/do/produce/buy. The truth is, it does not matter does it. Apart from the SEO factors which i doubt, (I challenge anybody to talk to me about googles constantly evolving algorithms matter of factly as opposed to what they have read somewhere) noone really knows do they. I have been directing web production projects for multinationals since 1997, admittedly corporate sites not blogs, and in the end it does not matter really does it, unless the intended readership is impaired in some way. In fact the article sets out seemingly to explain what the choice should be, however in the end you give arguments for both sides. The commenters then have overwhelmingly stated their preference for the right due to their experience with blogs as opposed to corporate sites. What about navigation at the top with no sidebars, whats wrong with that, in plain view, no scrolling, or at the bottom, if you want the users to concentrate on the article whats wrong with the bottom … ahh, sarcasm is such a difficult thing to convey in text … i used to be a HCI guru back in the days, paid big bucks because i knew about the ‘unknown’ but all i ever did was use common sense … people are afraid of the unknown … and i pretty much went against every established rule, as long as it worked. Theres too much of a sheep mentality in everything, it stagnates human growth. Damn it i was hoping to obtain some form of useful insight which i might have missed after 12 years of online work.
You have made valid points for and against, which is much appreciated, and your bottom line is it doesnt really matter as long as it works, and im a sucker for honesty, theres not enough of that these days is there. If it fits, wear it. Congratulations on a fine article. Cheers to all. ps. Do forgive me for writing a comment longer than the original article.
Michael Martin (1286 comments)12 January 09
There’s nothing wrong with using top navigation and no-sidebars, except of course, when you do want to have a sidebar, like most blogs do! Category lists and tag clouds are too long for top navigation, it works best with smaller list. On top of that, you need places for your subscription options, and many bloggers use adverts, nevermind other (Possibly un-necessary!) widgets. That’s all far too much for a header, and if it’s hidden away in the footer, a lot of people won’t see it.
Would you recommend designing a website for an 800×600 minimum resolution now, or 1024×768? (Assuming liquid isn’t an option). I would say 1024×768, and at that width, your content would be far too wide. The line-lengths would impair readability too much for a single-column to be a great option in most cases.
“In fact the article sets out seemingly to explain what the choice should be, however in the end you give arguments for both sides.” – I’m not sure how it would be possible to give a good argument for either side if I didn’t do that.
wombat (3 comments)12 January 09
ahh, i guess i have not expressed myself properly, i am at heart a designer after all
Top and bootom navigation? If someones interested in the information you are providing on your blog, both header and footer will work, the only people that won’t scroll around are those that have little or no interest. For some sites where the user base was supposed to be intellectual or artistic i have deliberately designed navigation that was difficult to find with great success. Of course you would not want to do this if your aim is to sell or your user base is varied. What i was trying to get at is that holistic definitons of what works and what doesnt limit creativity and limit investigation into methods which may work well. You are absolutely right in your appreciation that category navigation should be easy to find and use, either left or right will work and top menu with drop downs also will, but what about navigation that appears and dissapears when you need it, whats wrong with that? 
think of what happens when you watch TV, do you want the navigation when you are watching, no, its annoying, you only need it when you need it, using javascript or some other method to bring navigation in and hide it when its not used is cool, as long as its not a hassle and all users are aware of how to do it. The most important consideration is the user, and the aim of your blog. I designed an interface for internal bank workers 12 years ago, had to fight it out with a whole load of people saying this is the way it should be done, a load of “experts” with preconceived notions. In the end i got my way and not only is it still being used its been adopted into quite a few other banks as well.
Its funny you mention the resolution, back in the days of yore i had one client that wanted his site to fit into the screen on his old Mac with 512 px horiz res. then he complained when he saw it on my 20 inch monitor, in the end its your decision, its your blog, its your readership (or your clients if you are using themes as starter points to design sites for others) the way i look at it, if someone uses 800 x 600 he is used to seeing sites that dont fit, he is probably using Internet Explorer 6 too,
and not using a 1024 res means that people with larger monitors wil be looking at a tiny site. You have to draw a line somewhere, what about people that use text browsers, (lol what about them, how many people actually do) and theres a good point, all this talk about whats best, and how many people actually program a site thinking of blind people. You can theoretically satisfy a wider range of people using various techniques, but will you? How much extra work does it involve? Theres always some sort of compromise involved. Having said all that and getting back to resolution and layout, theres nothing wrong with white space between content and sidebars, theres way too many blogs that feel like a crowded bus, theres also nothing wrong with using two columns of content with no sidebars and a top menu for 1024.
In any case, as i said i dont think i explained myself too well, the article rocks, i agree with all your points, my point was that people should try different methods, and if whatever they do works then use it. Dont do what i do or what anyone else does just because their supposed to know better. Experiment, have some fun! investigation is good, not sticking to someones preconceived ideas is also good, then again dont be an idiot use common sense. A lot of people that offer their design services online should get a course somwhere to learn some basics, once you understand, then by all means go ahead and break the rules, but understand why you are doing so, and have a reason for it. For example, im seeing more and more themes using javascript to move things around which is great, Im looking forward to more and more blogs implementing slider techniques etc. and im also finding solace in the fact that many bloggers are finally looking at design (and understanding basic concepts) with the proliferation of magazine style themes. Font styling is improving greatly also, which in the end is just as important as layout, its all good news for the readers of the blogs, and thats what counts. Its probably not the best analogy but i recall as teenagers we invented a bucketload of words, much to the chagrin of our older companions, years later some of those have become accepted into the dictionary, people that stick to whats around are fine, but if noone pushes the boundaries we get stuck in the same old same old, language develops because of this, it becomes richer, the same could be applied to HCI techniques.
While im at it, i might as well say that what really gets to me, and is a problem with most themes, especially ones that you have to pay for, is that when category navigation is in the sidebar, subcategories are generally not displayed correctly, (nested or grouped) and most themes just display cats, children and subchildren in alphabetical order which is a mess. Left or right becomes almost entirely irrelevant when category navigation is confusing
Some of those premium theme makers out there are making beautiful themes that are ruined by this simple fact. Its plain old common sense. Sure you can modify, but that kind of negates the point of buying themes for most.
“I’m not sure how it would be possible to give a good argument for either side if I didn’t do that” exactly my point, i wandered into the article thinking that it would be an opinion which defined one layout “to rule them all” and was grateful that you gave arguments for both sides, and yeah i know my puns suck
Cheers.
TutorialCompiler (5 comments)15 January 09
I like the sidebars on the right. The left sidebar feels indifferent. Annonys me
Bang Kritikus (1 comments)4 February 09
You should use both left and right. It’s balance and make your blog more effisien.
Kampanye damai pemilu indonesia 2009 (4 comments)10 February 09
As you said I also prefer to place sidebar on the right. You’re right western read from left to right and if so reader will focus to your content not your sidebar
Serj (1 comments)11 February 09
nice article. always was interested in this problems
bartolomo (1 comments)18 February 09
Nice post. Mine are on the right. I know ads do better on left, but I like the look I have.
vimoh (1 comments)25 February 09
Mine is on the left. I appreciate the rightist (righteous?) arguments
but choose the left because it ‘feels’ right. Besides, my sidebar is minimal and has links I want the visitor to pay attention to.
Matt (9 comments)25 February 09
Actually I think it’s all down to what people are used to. Blogs tend to have side bars on the right, with the main content on the left. But online shopping sites tend to have the category list on the left.
It’s all down to what works for your individual site. Great thinking in terms of writing the article.
Linked from http://twilie.com
Ravi kiran (1 comments)26 February 09
I make sidebar look good and effective so i keep it in the left of my blog.Thank you.
Evan (4 comments)17 March 09
It is always nice to see how many people differ in positioning, in a strictly SEO mind set the sidebar should be on the right, so that the content is crawled before the sidebar. That is just my opinion though.
Keep up the great blogs
Windows Vista Help (3 comments)22 March 09
Right sidebar blog designs is best for blogs which are using Adsense.From my experiences it gives better productivity.
Barbados real estate news (1 comments)2 April 09
While scrolling through a site my mouse always seems to be on the right side of the page, this is linked back to the time before scrolling mice when you had to use the scroll bar.
I figure I can’t be the only freak that does this, so, this is why I always keep my sidebars on the right.
John Deszell (1 comments)3 April 09
I agree it should be on the right.
However…
Many people still use 800×600 resolution isn’t true at all. As of January 2009, only 4% of internet users are running 800×600 according to W3C stats, while 36% are at 1024×768 and 57% are running higher resolutions that.
http://www.w3schools.com/brows.....isplay.asp
Design Jar (3 comments)9 April 09
I prefer content to be on the left personally and a sidebar to be on the left. I really dont like two sidebars left and right and center column.
sanjeevbhadresa (1 comments)10 April 09
Another vote for the right hand side, it just seems more natural there!
Susan (3 comments)13 April 09
A hard vote, but I vote for left sidebar.
Dave (15 comments)19 April 09
Another vote for the right. The way I see it, links on the left is counterproductive. The first thing people see when they arrive at your blog is links to content elsewhere. I want to highlight my content and then users can fiddle with links if they wish.
Odzysk Danych (1 comments)29 April 09
I think the side bar should be on the left. Even though i’m reading from left to right I still like to have my menu on the left. I guess it’s because I’m used to it.
Michael Martin (1286 comments)5 May 09
That’s understandable, most of us are used to having menus on the left. With reading so many blogs, I’ve grown used to seeing them on the right. But outside of the internet, apps tend to have them on the left still.
Keith Davis (51 comments)31 August 09
Good point from @Michael.
I forgot all about the sidebar menu location.
inhetteExpift (1 comments)4 June 09
Sweet blog. I never know what I am going to come across next. I think you should do more posting as you have some pretty intelligent stuff to say.
I’ll be watching you .
Waisybabu (1 comments)25 July 09
This article just helped me make my decision to put the sidebar on the right final. *pats on the back*
.-= Waisybabu´s last blog ..3 Ways of Looking at the Sun =-.
Rob (34 comments)28 July 09
I could give reasons for both, as you did. It really depends on site purpose, and objective for visitors. I have blogs where the column on the left, like in my link here, and I have blogs with columns on the right.
.-= Rob´s last blog ..Free Web Usability and Design Analysis =-.
Web Host Right (16 comments)17 August 09
This has got me thinking, in most cases i would probably go for the right side too, but as mentioned, each theme needs certain things taken into consideration.
Blaine Bullman (5 comments)26 August 09
This is exactly what I was looking for, not a lot of information on this. I understand that almost everybody would say put your sidebar and ads on the right side but a lot of people will say that only because they are use to it and over time they will just unconsciously ignore it and especially the ads.
Although I do have my sidebar on the right of my blog for the moment, I would imagine being different would be a good thing with having the sidebar on the left? For example have you ever remembered a blog with great content with a left sidebar? I have and it’s stevepavlina.com.
The best way to find out though is to test your blog with the sidebar and each side and see for yourself which works best for you.
Rob (34 comments)26 August 09
Check this out: http://www.bestwebimage.com/ar.....lar-blogs/
I overlapped the top 20 blogs found on technorati ranked by fans. You can see how both sidebars are being put into action.
Keith Davis (51 comments)31 August 09
@Rob thanks for the link – great pictorial summary.
Keith Davis (51 comments)31 August 09
Looks like the summary is… 800 x 600 resolution with sidebar on the right. I’ll go along with that, although 800 x 600 can appear very small on some monitors!
I think I saw a few “eye movement studies”, which showed that most people do concentrate on the top left of a page. More support for sidebar on the right.
Also means that the html of your main content can come naturally before the html for your sidebar, if the sidebar is on the right (I appreciate that you can reposition with floats). Advantage of this is that the “spiders” read your main content first.
suny (3 comments)3 September 09
“Depending on the style and graphics in your theme, a left sidebar may feel better.”—-hehehh, the sidebar in your blog is put on the right.
And i like ppl focus on my content but not sidebar. So i put the sidebar to the right.
Hua Chen (7 comments)26 September 09
I heared of putting google ad in the left sidebar is better. So you can add it.
asep canda (2 comments)29 September 09
good post friends thankyou
ardianzzz (3 comments)19 October 09
i don’t have any sidebar.. yet..
asep canda (2 comments)4 November 09
nice post friend thankyou 4u
mobile phone tracking (4 comments)13 November 09
Left, if it’s navigation, right if others.
Cell phone tracker (2 comments)16 November 09
I do not want too many of them, but if neccesory, I prefer the right, thanks.
Jon (9 comments)16 November 09
I found this post while doing a Google search for “blog sidebar left or right.” The post makes some compelling arguments both ways, so thank you. However after reading through some of the previous comments, it dawned on me: “A/B Split Test.”
If the purpose of the site is for the readers to do something… anything… then let an “A/B split test” decide the sidebar’s location. Decide what action you most want readers to take (i.e. subscribe to RSS feed, leave a comment, click on an advertisement, stay on the page more than 30 seconds, whatever) and start tracking that action with a left sidebar for X number of page impressions. Then move the sidebar to the right and track for the same number of page impressions.
With enough page impressions, one side or the other will “win,” and that’s where you should place the sidebar going forward.
Now on the other hand, if it’s just “my blog” and I don’t necessarily care what the readers do, then by all means do what “feels right.” However if you do care about what the readers do, then from my experience, what feels right to me doesn’t always lead to the best results.
Industrial Pumps (2 comments)25 November 09
Very interesting discussion going here. On my personal blog, the sidebar is on the left. I guess I didn’t give it too much thought, but it feels fairly natural there. Now that I think about it, I suppose most “modern” blogs have navigation on the right side rather than the left. And for those saying that right-navigation is better for SEO purposes, I would argue that a nav bar at the top of the page would be even better. That way, a crawler could see all the different categories of your site right away. -Rob
Blogging Tutorial and Business Stuff (1 comments)28 December 09
Good,,,so i can put some adds there..keep share everything
Mitko (12 comments)7 January 10
I think that’s more of a personal choice! My sidebar is on the right!
At first I didn’t like that, because I was used to the old way on the left! But ask yourself this, what if every single visitor of your site likes it on the right and you are the only one liking it on the left?
Or this, what If you don’t like it on the left, but your visitors do? You would never be able to please all, so just go with whatever you like! After all it’s YOUR blog!
I personally got used to the right side, and I don’t think I would be able to look it now otherwise.
web development company (1 comments)3 February 10
Seems that tremendous points given here. . . I also think that the sidebar should be on the right. . . just because that user should read the content first.and then scrolls to bottom of the page. . Great topic .. I like it too. .