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Re: Which should come first - navigation OR content?

for

From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Apr 25, 2006 7:20AM

> Recently I stumbled across some research that said since the majority
> of sites have been built with Nav 1st then Content, it is more likely
> to confuse most users - annoyingly I didnt bookmark the report.

I think Ben makes an good point. Most users do expect to see
the Navigation first but this is probably more due to convention/habit/volume.

Is it really best practice to put navigation first or merely a "tradition"?

IMO as long as the page has a "skip to content" link or similar,
is marked up well and can be navigated easily by screen reader users, those who prefer keyboard navigation etc, this whole issue is a moot point.

Josh

ben morrison wrote:
> On 4/25/06, Becky Tindle < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>>Up until now I have been putting the navigation before the content in the
>>HTML source and providing a 'skip nav/skip to content link' to give the
>>option to skip the navigation.
>>
>>More recently I have been working on a large site (already built and
>>launched) that has been built with the content first in the flow of HTML and
>>the navigation last - with a 'skip to navigation' link.
>>
>>I am not sure which I feel is better - I'm inclined to think that nav first,
>>content after is more conventional thus far... maybe there is no better
>>option of the two.
>
>
> Recently the trend has been about placing content first and using CSS
> etc to move the nav into place at the top - visually, the idea being
> that this would be better for screen readers etc.
>
> Recently I stumbled across some research that said since the majority
> of sites have been built with Nav 1st then Content, it is more likely
> to confuse most users - annoyingly I didnt bookmark the report.
>
> ben.
>
>
>
>
>