Should a Sidebar Go On the Left or Right?
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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About the Author - Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies. Written on 7th April 2008.
Other posts tagged with Content, eye-tracking, Layout, left, resolution, right, Sidebar.
10th February, 1:59 pm GMT
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
11th February, 7:36 pm GMT
nice article. always was interested in this problems
18th February, 12:16 am GMT
Nice post. Mine are on the right. I know ads do better on left, but I like the look I have.
25th February, 8:19 am GMT
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.
25th February, 3:44 pm GMT
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
26th February, 2:02 am GMT
I make sidebar look good and effective so i keep it in the left of my blog.Thank you.
17th March, 7:01 pm GMT
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
22nd March, 2:09 pm GMT
Right sidebar blog designs is best for blogs which are using Adsense.From my experiences it gives better productivity.
2nd April, 2:44 pm GMT
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.
3rd April, 8:41 pm GMT
I agree it should be on the right.
However...
Many people still use 800x600 resolution isn't true at all. As of January 2009, only 4% of internet users are running 800x600 according to W3C stats, while 36% are at 1024x768 and 57% are running higher resolutions that.
http://www.w3schools.com/brows.....isplay.asp
9th April, 9:19 pm GMT
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.
10th April, 2:28 am GMT
Another vote for the right hand side, it just seems more natural there!
13th April, 11:56 pm GMT
A hard vote, but I vote for left sidebar.
19th April, 6:02 pm GMT
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.
29th April, 8:39 am GMT
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.
5th May, 7:33 pm GMT
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.
4th June, 2:08 am GMT
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 .