I'm working on a news aggregation system inspired by reddit.com
Site can have multiple categories created by users. I would like to display as many categories on front page as I can, without sacrificing style, usability and design.
two obvious choices are:
Vertical list on left side - Advantage: I can list lots of categories, as vertical placement give me unlimited amount of space - Disadvantage: Based on text size of category, the looks and spacing between categories and content are compromised
In case of vertical menu, questions pop up in my mind: should "more" link simply take you to a category page? Should I make mouse over on more scroll more categories in via javascript? maybe mouseover on more should expand the menu downwards revealing more categories?
Horizontal list on top of site - Advantage: Does not compromise design - Disadvanage: Limited space depending on User's screen resolution
There might be other ways of achieving this, say by partially hidden vertical or horizontal menu, but not sure if basing a site layout on javascript is a good idea.
I'd really appreciate your input on this. What would you recommend I do?