Latest verdict on left vs. right navigation?

[johnnygphotography]

I'm going to be building a couple of sites using Wordpress and have going through their themes. Most of the two-column themes have the navigation on the right-hand side. I've normally built sites with the horizontal navigation at the top or the vertical navigation on the left-hand side.

Is right-handed navigation becoming more acceptable/common? I'm still under the impression (old-school, maybe?) that the left or top navigation is more user-friendly because that's what the visitors are used to.

These site I'm building are more informational/presentational and not for e-commerce...

Your thoughts?

Thanks!!!

[cw1865]

We read left to right, top to bottom, so I would stick with left navigation/top horizontal navigation. I would have to see a good implementation of right navigation to actually consider it. I have yet to see one that I find compelling.....and off the top of my head I can't even think of one...

[seomagician]

left and top works best for most sites.

[johnnygphotography]

Thanks for validating what I was sensing. If I find a theme I like with the navigation on the right, I'll just CSS it to the left. I'll have to find tutorials on how to do this, so this will be the next part of the quest.

Your feedback has been appreciated...

Great day!

[mjtaylor]

Well, let me jump in here and advocate for accepting right navigation if you find a theme you like.

Here's why there's a trend to right navigation. Left navigation wastes the most valuable real estate on a web page precisely because we read from top left to right bottom. So, if there is anything you want to sell or make sure every visitor sees, put that there INSTEAD of navigation ...

Google eye tracking and see what I mean ...