Creating a new folder in Nautilus

Switch back to icon view, so you can click outside the area of where the folders are. In list view, clicking anywhere will select the row you're clicking on.

Alternatively, you can just press Ctrl+Shift+N to create a new folder.

Would also be reasonable to file a bug that it's not easy to create a new folder with right clicking in list view when screen is full, though it can be done in icon view.

You can create a new folder by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N Or right clicking when there is a space to right click not on a folder. You can also click on the gear icon on the top right of the window and click "New Folder".

Now, in 18.04 (2018) there are these three horizontal lines in the top right corner. If you click on them there will be a small window and in it you will find a create new folder button. But still quite unbelievable to hide nifty things like this.