Comments on: In Defense of Vertical Navigation

By: inGraphis Printing

inGraphis Printing — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:50:24 +0000

Great article. I agree with you. It doesn’t matter whether you use vertical or horizontal navigation as long as it’s well used. A good design is what makes the difference.

By: Flavio

Flavio — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000

I also prefear your point of view than the original, i especialli don’t agree with the #waste of screen real estate.
Websites are often still designed with fixed layout like 960-1024px, while displays are nowadays more capable than that (a 13″ is 1280px). With the advent of 16:10 widescreens (and now 16:9) and the finally acknowledgement that text-content should be column-ized for readability, there is much more horizontal space than vertical.
And i think it’s one of the reasons why so many designs are horizontal-scrolling.
In this scenario a vertical nav-menu steal less screens space, i think.

The eye-tracking studies are giving a very strong advice, it’s true, but every heat-map i’ve seen was portraying an “old-gen” website, something conceived like a portal, with the same, boring, old 3-col-layout. I think that if you place elements in the right way (blank space is very important for eg.) you can drive the visitor’s eye to the right place in any case.

By: san diego listings

san diego listings — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:03:16 +0000

Hey thats some pretty interesting stuff. By the way, what blog system do you use? I am beginning a blog site, but not sure which system to have, but yours looks real great. Thank you

By: Peter E

Peter E — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 11:14:16 +0000

Now that most computer monitors are wide-screen, it seems to me that vertical space is at more of a premium than horizontal space. Vertical navigation solves two issues relating to this: 1) it frees up some of the vertical space so more of the valuable content to be seen “above the fold”, and 2) lines of text can only widen so far before readability suffers, thus there is more space now than ever for navigation to be moved to the side of the screen.

Also, the ability to add new menu items and items with longer text is NOT a minor issue. Clients have been known to change their minds, after all!

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:12:42 +0000

i couldn’t agree more. thanks

By: Theo

Theo — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:06:31 +0000

Excellent article! Vertical, horizontal or even the use of both, have negative and positive aspects. I always try to choose the right one to fit the project needs.

By: Ant Gray

Ant Gray — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:34:11 +0000

Vertical menus are good for vertical or minimalist design.

By: Lauren I. Ruiz

Lauren I. Ruiz — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:05:02 +0000

I respect that everyone has an opinion, but I recognize when I agree with one’s opinion better, and I agree with your article. I like it. You debunked the previous article with simple reasoning.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:04:45 +0000

verticle, horizontal or heck, diagonal, as long it fits the page and adds to the usability then it’s good. there’s really no right or wrong when it comes to visual elements. every designer has their (or should have their) own interpretations.

By: enSo

enSo — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:34:39 +0000

I’m forty-two