Sidebar navigation or header navigation?

[Thomasss]

I know many people prefer the current style you see on this forum, the header style. Though how many of you consider the sidebar styles? Something like this:

Is this something outdated to the ever growing webmaster world?

 

[Teg1]

Honestly it depends on the project. For a project I'm working on I have both a sidebar navigation and a header navigation while trying not to repeat links too much. The sidebar navigation is all forum related while the top nav is all site related. However, generally, I tend to use only a top bar navigation.

 

[The]

I'm not really fussed - whatever looks best for the design! I like the sidebar look, but it also often has a lot of wasted space on it if you don't want to overclutter the forum.

 

[Namoh]

I'm not really fussed - whatever looks best for the design! I like the sidebar look, but it also often has a lot of wasted space on it if you don't want to overclutter the forum.

I agree with this, depends on your overall design. I'm using a sidebar navigation for a vBulletin theme I'm creating because it matches the rest of my design.

 

[Sharon]

I cannot say I prefer one over another. Personally, I think if the navigational bar works well and it isn't an eyesore then it's good! At my job I am amazed at how unprofessional some businesses' websites look. It blows me away to see that some websites still feature navigation bars that do not have any clickable links. That's just ridiculous to me.

 

[Belthazar]

I aways liked the header one myself. It just always seemed like the best way to organize the forum. I haven't seen too many with the sidebar navigation, though. I might get used to it after I see it some more.

 

[Erin Nicole]

It depends on what the layout calls for and what site you are using it on.

 

[Christopher1]

I'm not really fussed - whatever looks best for the design! I like the sidebar look, but it also often has a lot of wasted space on it if you don't want to overclutter the forum.

I have to agree with this. To piggyback: it depends on the design and sometimes less is more.