Why top navigation is not always the best choice

On desktop, we have a lot of horizontal space. Yet website content usually does not stretch across the full width of the screen.

That makes sense. Long lines of text are harder to read, so content is usually limited to a reasonable width. On large monitors, this almost always leaves empty space on the sides.

And that is often where the classic top navigation stops making sense to me.

Top menus are a very common pattern. People are used to them, they understand them quickly, and they work well for smaller websites. If a site has just a few main sections and a simple structure, it is a safe choice.

On desktop, though, it often runs into the problem that it uses only a narrow strip at the top, while the space beside the content stays empty. Yet that is exactly where navigation can often be more useful.

Side navigation can have several advantages. It is often easier to scan, easier to expand with more items, and on wider layouts it can make use of space that would otherwise remain empty. For some types of websites or admin interfaces, it therefore makes more sense to me than a top menu.

That does not mean top navigation is wrong.

Rather, it seems to me that it is used too automatically. As the default solution even where nobody really considers whether another layout might make more sense.

A typical example is content-heavy websites, documentation, more complex applications, or pages with multiple navigation levels. There, top menus often start to hit their limits. Items get shortened, dropdowns multiply, and the whole solution stays at the top even though the user’s main work happens elsewhere.

On the other hand, for smaller websites, landing pages, or simpler presentation projects, top navigation can still be the best choice. It is familiar, simple, and does not add unnecessary complexity to the interface.

So the point is not that top navigation is a bad pattern.

It is more that it should not be the automatic default for every desktop website.

Maybe it is better to think the other way around:
not “where do we put the menu,”
but “which type of navigation best matches the content, the layout width, and the way the website is used.”

That is where, in my view, better UI decisions begin.