In pretty much all monitors and web browsers, a web page starts on the left, and is built as wide as the web designer wants it. If it ends up wider than the user's screen, all the info on the right side is cut off, and the user has to scroll to the right to see it. If you navigation was on the right, the user would not see it...and if they don't figure out how to scroll, they can't get to the information they want, and they will leave. The page never looses the left hand side information on loading, so it makes sense to have the navigation where it will ALWAYS be seen.

I use fixed element width and height because I want absolute control of how they appear no matter the monitor size. The resolution might make everything bigger or smaller but everything is still in the same spot.

Plenty of big name websites still cater to small monitors.

https://www.bankofamerica.com/
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.target.com/
http://www.bp.com
http://www.ge.com/
http://www.aa.com/
http://www.axa.com/en/
http://www.daimler.com/

Just to name a few.

Cliff pretty much said it all

All very good points, thanks to everyone who chimed in.

BillR

Thank you very much for that response. Now I understand why I was having the problem I was having...emphasis on 'was'.

Thanks again!

David