The opposite to left column navigation, would be (of course) right column navigation. Surprisingly there are not many sites with right column navigation. It is quite easy to find sites that use the right hand column for sub-navigation, or advertising but not for the main navigation.

I am not sure why there aren’t more sites that use right column navigation? Right column navigation makes a lot of sense in western cultures because our eyes scan from left to right when we read, making the site’s main content is the first part our eye is drawn to. Also, in my experience, my cursor is almost always near the right side of the browser window – so that I can be closer to the scoll bar. So also having the menu bar on the right makes a lot of sense!

Ultimately the choice between left and right side navigation will be the client’s decision. Left column navigation is more familiar and more standard, but that is not always a priority when designing or redesigning a site. If you are looking to have your site a bit different than the average you should give right column navigation a try.