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Tab Clear?

Posted by Andrew Faulkner on October 14th, 2005.

Andrew Faulkner is the admin at fadtastic. Andrew prides himself on standards-based, accessible web design in the city of Nottingham, UK. He believes in aesthetically pleasing accessible design and that 'standards compliant does not equal boring.'

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Tabs have been used as navigational elements since time (or rather the Internet) began. A recent site-hopping expedition has brought up an obvious trend - side tabs. Several examples, including the much ‘copied’ SeventyTwo tabs really wowed me initially but also left an inkling of uncertainty in my head. I couldn’t help but think that these menus are hard to navigate for people without access issues, never mind disabled users.

But I digress - we’re here to analyse a trend, not to harp on about access issues.

The designs of all the side tabs I’ve seen are visually stunning and effective. Designers have pushed the boundaries to avoid the ‘it looks like every other website’ problem. The beauty of side tabs are that they are different and original. ‘Different’ and ‘original’ on the web can be extremely important and this trend is fairly new as far as I can tell. I think this trend will remain in design circles for some time and occasionally break into the mainstream. They make a bold statement (I’m different!) and I therefore think that the usual corporate sites, that tend to go with convention, will not use this effect. I think careful use of side tabs will sprinkle some originality into the design world.

So:

  • Would you use them? Why? / Why not?
  • Do they have a place? Where?

As usual, any examples are appreciated. I’m particularly interested to see if anyone has done a text version of side tabs.

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6 Responses to Tab Clear?

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I think side tabs make a great sub navigation for galleries. I forgot where I saw it orginally, but one portfolio page had a screenshot of their work and than on the side was tabs to view different views of the page.

Other examples of sites using side tabs for main navigation:

http://emericawildinthestreets.com/

http://www.newinphilly.com/

Marc Bernstein
October 14th, 2005
#

Marc -
“but one portfolio page had a screenshot of their work and than on the side was tabs to view different views of the page.”

I believe what you are talking about is www.irishstu.com. Here’s an example:
http://www.irishstu.com/portfolio/web-davis.htm

Patrick
October 14th, 2005
#

Not really side tabs (but similar)… vertical “tabs” of any kind. Initially, they threw me off a little, like the lovely vertical navigation of the new hicksdesign.co.uk.

What keeps me involved is not “seeking” the navigation or the novelty of going vertical, but the *ubiquitousness* of horizontal navigation and vertical lists.

Change is good. I don’t mind being made to think for a second. In fact, I prefer it at this point. :)

lr
October 15th, 2005
#

Vertical Tab example:

http://www.rifflog.com/log

Marc Bernstein
October 17th, 2005
#

Another interesting take on this is

http://www.me3dia.com/

which uses vertical headers to seperate content on the page.

Marc Bernstein
October 18th, 2005
#

If it’s clearly readable, I think they’re alright.

I found myself turning my head for the seventytwo.co.uk ones - bad.

tokyocube.com - fine

Jeff
October 21st, 2005
#

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