We've been working on a number of web-based applications recently and
used a right-hand navigation/action panel. Some of these past
applications had the standard horizontal navigation across the header
and sub-nav below that. Others used a primary navigation across the
header and sub-navigation in the left rail.
We chose to have the primary 3-5 sections as primary navigation tabs
across the header. Global actions, which are kind of sub-navigation,
but kind of not, have been put in the right hand rail. Additionally,
status information (e.g. the Account Balance $530.00) lives in this
right hand panel as well. So, we've made it into a global status and
actions panel.
We've done some A/B testing with the old applications and the new
redesigned framework and it's been very successful so far. There's
some initial delay, as is expected since these guys have been using
the old system for over 5 years. But after that initial delay, the
efficiency has increased over 20%.
I'd contribute these improvements to a number of things:
1. The overall redesign is organized better, visual spacing improved,
readability improved.
2. We've surfaced global areas into a common, predictable area.
Something they had to hunt for under a number of different menus before.
3. The content is first, actions are second in reading left to right.
So, the content these people need to access in order to complete the
task is first in the screen, shaving off some time, effort, and
cognitive load.
Cheers!
Todd Zaki Warfel
President, Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same.
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