Pro Blog Design

Comments

discussion on "Why Post Images Should be on the Left"

1. 

   Reply Slevi 10th October 2007 at 12:48 pm

   Usually the right, although every now and then there’s a picture on the left as well. I don’t really use any logic to it, just end up picking which I think looks nice.
2. 

   Reply Macrike 10th October 2007 at 1:10 pm

   If it’s a big image like a screenshot or a something, I usually but it in the middle, with the max width. But if it’s a large vertical image or a small one, I normally stick it to the right.

   I try to put it on the left but it just doesn’t look correct to me. :S
3. 

   Reply milo 10th October 2007 at 2:08 pm

   With the first letter element it’s possible to vary and balance the image placement, however it’s not the perfect solution if using a narrow post area, but it works perfect with an elastic layout.
4. 

   Reply Jonathan Franzone 10th October 2007 at 5:26 pm

   I used to place them on the right exclusively thinking that it would just be a nice decoration, but out of the way of the content. I never really thought about it drawing the eye towards the content.

   Now when I do place a post image… well it just depends on my mood. :)
5. 

   Reply TechZilo 10th October 2007 at 6:36 pm

   Don’t you think it looks a bit awkward on your index? You have short excerpts, and they are crowded along with some images which have no borders or anything else to demarcate it. Not critique – I experience this problem myself, and the only solution is smaller images, or no images :(
6. 

   Reply redwall_hp 10th October 2007 at 8:05 pm

   My images are always on the right on Webmaster-Source, because I’m applying the left-to-right logic to AdSense placement. :D
7. 

   Reply Steven Bradley 10th October 2007 at 8:33 pm

   Michael I think in general if you’re placing an image at the top of a post the left side is better for the reasons you mention. However further down the page I think having an image on the right side works well, because it pulls your eye through the content. I think it helps someone who starts reading to continue further down the page.

   A balance is good to avoid the image column that could result, though at times a column if images might be the a desired effect.

   One other consideration I look to is the image itself. A face looking left will probably work best on the right. Your eye will more likely follow the cues from the face in the image. Since it looks left so do you. Placing that image on the left hand side leads to people looking outside your post, which may not be what you want.
8. 

   Reply Marco Ruelicke.net 10th October 2007 at 11:24 pm

   Where I place the image depends on the content. Most of the time I do place it on the left side though.

   Also, if it is an image inside the text flow, I usually alternate the side to lighten up the text and make it easier to read.

   I believe the best method of placing the images is to go by look and feel as Slevi mentioned already. It may not be logic, but usually you get the best results for your style of writing articles :)
9. 

   Reply Brian Purkiss 11th October 2007 at 12:26 am

   I never really thought about that…
   But it makes perfect sense!
   Thanks for the post!

   I often have images 500px wide that span the entire post width (like here or here).
   But when I have small images, I put them on the left side of my post (like here).

   I haven’t made up my mind on my favorite way yet…

   Ballance is the key though.
10. 

    Reply adam 11th October 2007 at 2:39 am

    i disagree. an opening image, especially if it’s not directly related to the post, because people don’t “read” them. they get a quick glance, but they’re not part of the reading flow of the article.

    i generally only post an image on the left if understanding the post relies on having seen the image. otherwise, the image goes on the right, and only serves as a visual anchor.
11. 

    Reply Deron Sizemore 11th October 2007 at 3:10 am

    I definitely agree with your points. I position my images on the left and if I have a larger image I just position it in the middle at the top taking up the full width.
12. 

    Reply kristarella 11th October 2007 at 3:19 am

    Oh no! My browser sent a bad request :(

    Anywho, what I said was that image with the arrows really illustrates what you’re saying about drawing your eyes – it would probably only work well with a certain sized image (couldn’t be too big?).
    I too alternate my images so that the front page looks balanced. I think that’s fine a=on a well designed page – if you have enough white space etc then the readers eyes will be able to take in the page as a whole and read the things that look interesting. Where as a busy page will need to be scanned more thoroughly (probably left to right).

    Steven makes a good point about pulling eyes through an article. *thumbs up*
13. 

    Reply WarriorBlog 11th October 2007 at 3:25 am

    Should Adsense go on the left too? What about putting images in the middle?

    I do agree with you here but I think it could also go in the middle if your image is big and it depend on your design I guess.
14. 

    Reply Pinyo 11th October 2007 at 4:35 am

    I have the photo after the first paragraph, because I want it to be bigger.

    I see your point about having it on the left, but I don’t like it because it sometimes make bullets look weird.
15. 

    Reply pablopabla 11th October 2007 at 5:12 am

    I style it the way you do. Sometimes, however, I place it in the middle between paragraphs or above the post especially if it is a chart or something. It also gives variety to the regular readers.
16. 

    Reply kristarella 11th October 2007 at 5:20 am

    pablopabla – variety is the spice of life! :P Also if you’re demonstrating something with a chart, for example, it makes sense to put it near the explanation. If that’s in the middle of the post (like in this post) then that’s fine.
17. 

    Reply Ken Dahlin 11th October 2007 at 5:47 am

    I always almost always position a photo to the left as a small teaser and perhaps have another larger image shortly after the introduction. This is nothing I’ve ever really sat down and thought about, it just seemed to look good to me. Thanks for having me think about it my analytically.
18. 

    Reply Bill 11th October 2007 at 5:55 am

    I believe the left side is also good for the images b/c once a browser is opened it opens so that the top-left content is visible to the human eye even if it’s not maximized. This way the user/reader sees the image placed on the left first instead of the one placed on the right. I hope this wasn’t too confusing.
19. 

    Reply goldfries 11th October 2007 at 6:36 am

    If it was the first paragraph, I’d put it on the right.

    If it was any other paragraph, I’d put it on either side.

    If the images are pretty close (within a screen perhaps?) then I would alternate sides. Stick to 1 side seems so…….. patterned. :) Sorry, that’s the only word I could think of.
20. 

    Reply pelf 11th October 2007 at 8:05 am

    I don’t usually pay much attention to the image on a post, especially if the image was taken from one of those free stock image libraries. Hence it doesn’t matter whether the image is on the right or left.

    But I do, however, pay more attention to images of the blogger doing something, especially when the post is is about that “something”.
21. 

    Reply Slevi 11th October 2007 at 12:21 pm

    “I believe the left side is also good for the images b/c once a browser is opened it opens so that the top-left content is visible to the human eye even if it’s not maximized. This way the user/reader sees the image placed on the left first instead of the one placed on the right. I hope this wasn’t too confusing.”
    Do some people really have their browsers so small that the actual content of sites is cut off? I know not everybody uses it maximized but minimizing it that far :P.

    If it is done though this upside of placing an image there as first thing to be seen might also be the downside, since what if the image isn’t appealing enough? Will they even bother to increase the size of their browser?
22. 

    Reply sarahG 11th October 2007 at 1:41 pm

    I put my images to the left. Simple reason, because the text then lines up beside it. Unless you’re using justified text, the text is jagged next to the image if it’s on the right which I think looks messy. For some reason the text being jagged on the right of a paragraph, without an image, isn’t an issue as it’s more natural, but I prefer it to look neat around a photo, so it goes on the left!
23. 

    Reply kristarella 11th October 2007 at 2:45 pm

    That’s an interesting take on it sarahG – looks like you do have things justified though :P I like your layout a lot! Nicely gridded (for lack of a better description), pleasing to look at.
24. 

    Reply Starfeeder 11th October 2007 at 3:38 pm

    Great post :) never thought it of that way, I love to use lots of imagery in my posts when I can.
25. 

    Reply sarahG 11th October 2007 at 3:43 pm

    kristarella, I’ll admit I prefer justified text too, I didn’t realise I had it on my blog though! Shows how much attention I pay to it :D Unfortunately I can’t take credit for my layout as it’s a free theme. I’m not a designer and haven’t a hope of doing anything decent! ;)
26. 

    Reply Slevi 11th October 2007 at 4:04 pm

    Images on the right do look better with justified text, but unfortunately justified text on itself has some flaws with double spacing or even more appearing within the sentences. That’s something which especially if long words are used can end up making the lines look quite messy again :P.
27. 

    Reply goldfries 11th October 2007 at 4:29 pm

    I prefer justified text though. I rather have larger space than jagged left and right margins.
28. 

    Reply redwall_hp the webmaster resource king 11th October 2007 at 4:36 pm

    Bleh. I can’t stand justified text. The irregular spacing makes it harder to read.

    Goldfries, I alternate image alignment if I have more than one image in a single post as well. I always start on the right, though, because of my AdSense block.
29. 

    Reply Madhur Kapoor 11th October 2007 at 5:27 pm

    Basically i dont place any text around the images so i place them in the center .
30. 

    Reply kristarella 11th October 2007 at 10:16 pm

    Darn it! I just got that “400 Bad Request” thing again and lost my comment. Anyone else had that or is it somehow my fault?

    What I said was something like: obviously justified text is a personal preference. Unless the post space is quite small, uneven spacing is generally at a minimum.
    I see the jagged edges as much of a “flaw” in some layouts.
31. 

    Reply Slevi 11th October 2007 at 10:30 pm

    They’re both flaws, definitely true. Which is more annoying is completely a personal preference, it’s to be hoped that one day with either the help of CSS or just browsers themselves the justification can be worked out more seamlessly even if bigger words within a certain sentence are used.

    As for the 400 bad request errors no issue here, although sometimes I do get ending up with a white screen after commenting from wp-comments.php, but I have that on my own blog too. So unless me and PBD are both hosted by the same host (lunarpages in my case) I don’t think that’s a server related matter.
32. 

    Reply Ryan 11th October 2007 at 11:54 pm

    Yup. Great post. This idea dates back to the days of single page newsletters where users are simply more used to looking to the left for points of interest and to the right for any type of navigation (back then it was more of a table of contents or index)
33. 

    Reply Armen 12th October 2007 at 4:44 pm

    That’s really strange. I’ve always thought images looked better on the right. Plus, images on the left actually make it more awkward to the read the text because the beginning of the sentance is half way across the page, rather than at the beginning, if you catch my drift.

    Definately food for thought though. Thanks!
34. 

    Reply redwall_hp 12th October 2007 at 5:17 pm

    Armen has a great point. I’ve thought that myself in the past.
35. 

    Reply Michael Martin 12th October 2007 at 7:42 pm

    I’m really starting to fall behind on this commenting business! Ready for another beast of a reply everyone?? :D

    Slevi – Fair enough. If it feels right, it often is.

    Macrike – I center large images as well, but why do you feel the left isn’t right usually?

    milo – I’m a little lost there. Do you mean for formatting the post itself?

    Jonathan – If it’s just a decoration, and you wanted it out of the way, is it worth having at all? The images do help out your posts.

    Techzilo – Sometimes, yep! I started out with images 234px wide, and quickly went down to 216px. Lately I’ve been wondering if another drop would be worthwhile…

    Redwall – Sounds good. Sorry to throw a spanner in the works, but have you ever tried it the other way around? If the image draws the attention, then they read the first line to the right, then read straight onto the ads? It’s just a theory, but you could trial it. :)

    Steven – That’s very true. I only looked at the opening images in this article, your reasoning makes a lot of sense for deeper images. And great point about the image itself. Some images will just “feel” right in certain locations, like others have mentioned.

    Marco – Yep, it’s certainly worth giving special considering to various other aspects of the post formatting.

    Brian – Glad ya liked it. I think they look good on the left in your blog in particular because of the strong right sidebar. Adds a little more balance. :)

    Adam – But can’t the image sell them on the article in the first place though? (Check out the link at the start of the post for the discussion on that. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. :) )

    Deron – I center large images as well. They’re too big to squeeze content down the sides of them.

    Kristarella – Yikes. I’ve lost a fair few comments that way as well! On my long ones, I now copy everything before submitting. Just incase. ;)

    Warrior – I’m not sure about adsense. I haven’t tested it, but I don’t think it would be much better on either side. The text ads don’t really draw the eye in the way that an image does, making this logic less applicable. Placing the ad on the right makes sense to me because the reader would read along the article and straight into the ad (wheras if the ad is on the left, they could just skip it and go straight to the content). Good question!

    Centered images are grand though (Provided they’re quite wide). :)

    Pinyo – That’s true – I sometimes have trouble with bullets and images as well.

    pablopabla – I like that variety as well. :)

    Ken – Thanks for the comment. Good to hear someone who naturally put them on the left (Most of the comments so far have been righties! ;) )

    Bill – That’s very true. Sort of like how you should place content in the left-most column.

    goldfries – Alternating is good, but is there any particular reason why you add the image to the right usually?

    pelf – As you said, the images aren’t all that useful to the reader if they’re not related (Something I know I’ve been guilty of a few times!)

    Sarah – That’s a very good point. I’d forgotten about that!

    Starfeeder – Considering your blog’s topic, I imagine there are some very nice images to be used! ;)

    Madhur – lol – So the decision wasn’t too hard for you then? :D

    Kristarella (again) – Twice now? No-one else has mentioned it at least. Is it happening to you on other blogs as well?

    Ryan – I imagine that would apply to some people, but with the popularity of the web nowadays, not everyone will have read that sort of newsletter back in the day.

    Armen – That’s true, but the cincher is, where does your eye start from on the page? If it starts scanning at the far left, then you could well be right. But what if it starts at the image? :)

    As for the whole text discussion; I tend to like left aligned text. The spacing in justified text tends to put me off, and you run into really problematic lines every now and again (And on the web, the only way to fix it easily is to re-word).

    PS – 758 words. Some day I’ll write a 1000 word comment. Can’t wait. :D
36. 

    Reply goldfries 12th October 2007 at 11:40 pm

    goldfries – Alternating is good, but is there any particular reason why you add the image to the right usually?

    I want the content to the primary focus, the picture is just secondary.

    The starting point of each line is always on the left. Adding a picture to it would shift a bunch of lines quite far from the left margin.

    After the text finishes the height of the picture, it goes back to the left again.

    So basically, I’m giving my readers the same starting point for each line of text. The pictures just accompany the lengthy text, just to make the page more vibrant and the chosen picture would be related to the paragraph. :)
37. 

    Reply Michael Martin 12th October 2007 at 11:48 pm

    It’s true that there tend to be less text-wrapping problems with right-aligned images, but are your images only for decoration?

    In some cases they are, no doubt. But images can draw attention and could well encourage more people to read your article, but for that to be true, then the pics have to be the first impression, with the content being second (Even if the content is more important in the long run).

    If your images are acting as attention pullers like that, then I’d still say that left aligning is easier for your visitors usually (Provided you don’t mess up the post formatting, as you’ve said).
38. 

    Reply kristarella 13th October 2007 at 12:09 am

    Sorry Michael, but it’s never happened anywhere else.
39. 

    Reply redwall_hp 13th October 2007 at 11:30 am

    No I haven’t thought of that (“the image draws the attention, then they read the first line to the right, then read straight onto the ads?”). It would be hard to do that though. The images in the posts are floated to the right, while the post template contains the ad, which is floated to the left. It’s not easy to change the ad/image positioning now. :D

    Though I’ve thought about trying-out a 468×80 ad between the post title and the post instead. Then I could alternate images like you do.
40. 

    Reply Michael Martin 13th October 2007 at 4:21 pm

    Kristarella – Hmm… If it keeps up, I’ll look into it. I mean, nothing has changed lately. Perhaps the server was having a little hitch that day? Sorry again. :(

    Redwall – Seems there are a few possibilities. With advertising, I think the recommendation is usually to experiment. At the very least, it will freshen up your ad layout for a bit, even if you go back to the original in the end?
41. 

    Reply ses5909 14th October 2007 at 2:44 pm

    For me it depends on the post I’m making. If the picture is simply a small accent, I will usually align it to the right. If I want it to grab attention, I will post it on the left. Nice question Michael!
42. 

    Reply Michael Martin 14th October 2007 at 3:30 pm

    Ses – That seems a good system. :)
43. 

    Reply goldfries 14th October 2007 at 4:38 pm

    Yes, the pictures in my article has always been for decoration. :)

    The thumbnails in game review on the other hand, occupy the whole row. (refer to my game reviews)

    Screenshot / Illustrations will take up the bulk of the area. (refer to my wp plugin post)
44. 

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45. 

    Reply Web Host Right 20th August 2009 at 8:56 pm

    I place my images on the left, i tend to use little 150 x 150 images and like the text wrapping around them, as long as theres enough text to justify using an image within the post.
46. 

    Reply Genry 23rd September 2009 at 11:36 am

    I really like, thanks!
47. 

    Reply hostpapa review 29th October 2009 at 9:33 pm

    yes i agree. there’s a research said that reading route, or heat area on the web page similar with alphabet ‘F’. people usually with start reading from left to right, then goes to next line, afterward go straight away down.
    technically, everything left approached works well. :) just my thought
48. 

    Reply Patti Mullen 7th September 2010 at 8:34 pm

    Makes sense. Lots of great material, thank you!
49. 

    Reply Futurama lover 1st February 2011 at 9:22 pm

    Ive been thinking about this for while now and i usually use left side image. but for my current blog i decide to try out the across the top image like here on problogdesign.com instead. Ill see how it gonna work out.
50. 

    Reply vip 16th April 2011 at 8:51 pm

    Thanks for the info,,, I love it