I got an e-mail last week from a Lockergnome reader who wanted me to tackle the debate on which side a menu should be on when designing a Web site layout. Sue writes:

I am working on a Web site for my sister and I have seen some layouts with navigation links on the left and some with navigation links on the right. Which one is better for me to use? Thanks!

From my own area of expertise I would say that the menu would be better on the right. When designing a Web site, you always want your content to be pushed first, because that is what you want the search engines to find first. Links out to other sections of your Web site and other Web sites you link to should be some of the last things listed in your HTML code. Basically speaking, here is what your Web site layout should look like.

Title > Content > Navigation

Now every so often I would say it is okay to put your navigation on the top as well, as long as it is your basic navigational links. I wouldn’t link to every single Web page on your Web site, but give me the basic framework. There are also CSS and design tricks to make your menu appear to be on the left — but when you look at the HTML code, the content still comes first.

So which side of the debate do you come down on?

Tags: content, menus, seo, navigation, question