I'm in the process of designing the navigation for a web application.
I have a few different types of views. One is a map, the others are all fairly similar and are like a standard web page.
Mapping View:
With the mapping page, the map's size scales based on the viewport, but doesn't scroll. The secondary navigation however does. My first idea was to position the navigation on the right hand side so that it was easy to understand the scroll bar was related to the navigation when scrolling.
Other Views:
With the other pages, they've very much traditional web pages with a few secondary navigation items and a lot of content (tables, forms etc). It makes sense to have the navigation on the left hand side — this is where a user expects it to be.
My dilemma is whether or not having the navigation in different positions (although both positions have very valid reasoning) will impede the user experience, and overall usability of the site. Users will be entering other views from the mapping screen so the navigation items may constantly be moving making it harder for users to navigate (opposite sides of the site).
If I do put the secondary navigation on a consistent side, then which side should it be on? Putting it on the left hand side gives the map view an odd feeling, but so does putting it on the right hand side for the other views.
Any advice, or resources are appreciated.