Web Page Navigation Design: Types, Principles and Accessibility

Web page navigation design is a crucial aspect of user experience. It helps users find their way around a website and access the information they need.

There are several types of navigation design, including horizontal, vertical, and tabbed navigation. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Effective navigation design follows several key principles, including simplicity, consistency, and clear labeling. For example, the use of clear and concise labels can make a big difference in user understanding.

A well-designed navigation system should also be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This can be achieved through the use of accessibility features such as alt text and high contrast colors.

Navigation bars should focus on functionality, making sure login, search toolbars, brand logos, and key content are easily accessible for users.

Different navigation menu structures may have distinct uses based on their designs and placements. This is because some designs are better suited for certain types of websites or user experiences.

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The main navigation bar, often found at the top of every website, is just one of the four primary types of website navigation. This type is usually the most prominent and easily accessible.

Navigation bars can be designed in various ways to meet the needs of different websites and users. For example, some websites may use a vertical navigation menu, while others may use a horizontal one.

Login and search toolbars are crucial components of a navigation bar, as they provide users with a way to access important features and find what they're looking for.

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Designing your website navigation is crucial because there are humans on the other side of the screen who will have to navigate through your site.

Your website's navigation should reflect the goal you want to achieve through your website. This means considering what you want users to do and making it easy for them to do it.

Remember, search engine bots can also benefit from strong website navigation design. This can improve your website's visibility and ranking.

The navigation bar should be ordered strategically to lead users to fulfill your website's goals. A clear and concise navigation bar is essential for user experience.

Adding a CTA (Call-to-Action) to your navigation bar can help lead users to the most important information for them. This can be especially useful for ecommerce websites that provide updates to the user.

Your website's navigation should be designed with users in mind, not just search engine bots. This means making it easy for humans to navigate through your site and find what they're looking for.

Be consistent in your website's navigation structure and style to avoid confusion. Consistency is all about making difficult choices, either something makes logical sense or it doesn't.

The golden rule of website navigation is to not make people think. Make the most important information accessible and use breadcrumbs to help users understand their location on the site.

Limit the main navigation menu to no more than seven links to keep it simple and easy to use. Avoid dropdown menus, which can be difficult for search engine bots to crawl.

Use descriptive labels for each menu item to create clarity and inform users about what to expect. Descriptive labels are also good for SEO if they incorporate relevant keywords.

Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind:

By following these best practices, you can create a website navigation system that is intuitive, easy to use, and provides a good user experience.

Planning your navigation structure is key to providing a smooth user experience. You should plan out how your page structure and navigation will look before you even start writing content for your website.

A good sitemap creator can help you quickly create mockups for what you want your website experience to be. Tools like GlooMaps, Octopus, VisualSitemaps, and Creately can be super helpful in this process.

Inconsistencies in structure and style can make your navigation confusing for users. Consistency is all about making difficult choices, like deciding whether all categories have subcategories or none at all.

A flat navigation structure can make it easy for visitors to explore all pages of your website. This means linking to significant categories from your homepage and then linking to a single layer of sub-category or single article pages from there.

Vertical sidebar navigation menus offer a seamless user experience. This type of navigation allows for more top-level options and doesn't have the same real estate limitations as horizontal navigation.

The order of your navigation menu matters. People tend to choose one of the first 5 options they see most of the time, so list the options you want visitors to click in order of importance.

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Accessibility is key to creating a user-friendly website. You want to make sure that every visitor can navigate your site easily, regardless of their abilities. The three-click rule may be outdated, but it taught us an important principle: limit the effort required for visitors to access key information.

To ensure accessibility, test fly-out menus to make sure they can be used by both mouse and keyboard users. This allows keyboard users to access submenus and ensures that your website is usable for everyone. Adding markup and keyboard behavior can help assist with keyboard operability.

Color contrast is also crucial for accessibility. You can use a contrast checker to ensure that people with moderately low vision and who are not using contrast-assisting technology can access your content. Test color contrast ratios to make sure your website is accessible to people with color blindness or other visual impairments.

Using color and white space to separate navigation from other elements is also important. This helps to make it clear where the navigation starts and ends, making it easier for visitors to find what they need. Use color, fonts, and white space to separate your menus from your main content and your sidebars.

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Mobile navigation is all about creating a seamless experience for users. The hamburger icon is a universal symbol for a menu on mobile.

To ensure users can easily navigate through your site, it's essential to optimize your site navigation for mobile. This means making sure the navigation links are large enough to view and tap on with a thumb.

A clear and categorized expandable mobile menu is a great solution for businesses with many products and categories. It's better than an endless list of links that can be overwhelming for users.

The hamburger icon is a must-have on mobile menus, as it's a familiar and intuitive symbol that users expect to see.

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Dropdown navigation menus are a great option for content-rich sites with a complex information architecture. They're ideal for listing many links to pages without cluttering the top-level navigation bar.

You can see this in action on Sephora's website, where hovering over a primary navigation link reveals a detailed dropdown menu. This is a good way to include plenty of links without overwhelming the user.

However, dropdown menus can be tricky to design responsively, and the drop-down function assumes visitors will want to interact with every option they hover over – which may not always be true. This can lead to a less-than-ideal user experience.

On the other hand, overlay dropdown menus on desktop can be effective, especially when combined with a color overlay on the main content. This can force the user's attention to the menu and make it easier to navigate.

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Dropdown navigation menus are a great option for content-rich sites with complex information architecture. This type of menu is ideal for listing numerous links to pages.

You can't list all the options side-by-side, so you can list the most crucial or general items in the top-level navigation bar, then add the rest in a dropdown menu.

Sephora is a great example of a site that uses this approach, offering a detailed dropdown menu when you hover over primary navigation links.

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Dropdown menus can be tricky to design responsively, and the drop-down function assumes visitors will want to interact with every option they hover over.

The dropdown menu includes a list of various choices that a customer can select, often used in shopping parts of a site to navigate through products and services.

Dropdown menus can be tricky to implement on the computer screen, but with a color overlay on the main content, they can force 100% of the user's attention to the menu.

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The hamburger menu is a popular navigation style, especially on mobile apps and websites. It's a compact, three-line button that consolidates a list of links.

This type of navigation is very efficient, using space effectively. However, it can be inaccessible to screen readers, so it's essential to build hamburger menus with accessibility in mind.

On larger screen sizes, hamburger menu items are listed horizontally. This means that users can easily access navigation items without having to click on a button.

The hamburger menu is often used on mobile device software, increasing the UI experience for mobile users. It's also seen on desktops and Macs, presenting itself with three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner.

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Dropdown menus can be a source of confusion for users, especially if they're not clearly separated from clickable links.

For most websites, dropdown menus aren't necessary or useful, and having too many links in your main menu can negatively impact usability.

Unless the design separates dropdown links from clickable links, it can lead to confusion, making users wonder if they're clickable or not.

Implementing hierarchical and local navigation in place of dropdown menus can lead to smoother user flow and allow users to interact with multiple pages, spending more time on your site.

The header and footer of a website play a crucial role in navigation design. A horizontal navigation bar is often paired with a footer menu, providing easy access to important subpages. The New York Times is a great example of this, with over 50 links in its footer menu.

Some websites prefer a simpler approach, keeping their footer menu concise with only a handful of pertinent links. The optimal solution depends on the goals and complexity of the website. A website's footer menu should include links to legal pages and a way to get in touch with the site owner.

A "To the top" link in the footer can be a useful feature, bringing users back to the top of the page. This is seen in standard WordPress themes, where the Desktop Horizontal Menu option is a no-frills menu in the header section.

For your interest: Web Page Header Design

The header is a crucial part of your website, and it's where your navigation menu is typically located. It's a horizontal navigation bar that lists the major pages side-by-side and places them in the website header.

Many websites feature the same sections in their headers, like "About", "Products", "Pricing", and "Contact", because visitors expect to see them. However, you shouldn't be afraid to customize your site by tailoring your menu to your website's purpose and audience.

The New York Times has many nav links in its horizontal navigation menu at the top of the page, and its footer menu has over 50 links. A great strategy is to list the options you want visitors to click in order of importance, so you can direct them where you want them to go without them feeling the pressure of being led along to the sales page.

Just like any standard WordPress theme, the new official release has a no-frills menu in the header section, and you can select different display locations. The most common type of menu style is a horizontal text-based navigation bar, which includes a list of important site pages or sections.

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The footer is a crucial part of a website's navigation. It's typically paired with a horizontal navigation bar and offers additional options for visitors who can't find what they're looking for in the header.

Some websites, like The New York Times, have a footer menu with over 50 links, while others keep it simple with only a handful of links. Use your discretion when deciding how many links to include in your footer.

A website's footer menu should include links to the most important pages on the site, such as legal pages and a way to get in touch with the site owner. This is considered good practice.

On mobile devices, the footer menu can be limited to five menu items that expand into sub-sections when clicked. This can make the website a little harder to navigate, but it's a neat trick to keep in mind.

Readers who scroll to the bottom of your website are more engaged than average users, so take advantage of that space to highlight valuable content. You can include multiple categories and even highlight vital cornerstone pages or articles in your footer.

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Responsive design is a must-have for modern websites. Over 59% of global website traffic in Q4 2022 came from mobile devices, making it essential to optimize your website for all screen sizes.

Mobile devices now account for 45% of all U.S. web traffic, so prioritizing mobile is crucial. This extends to your website navigation menus, which should be designed with mobile in mind.

Websites must adapt to provide an optimal user experience, whether viewed on a large desktop screen or a small mobile device. A responsive website design modifies its layout according to the screen size.

Navigation bars must be designed for both desktop and mobile, including all screen sizes. This helps readers who are using non-standard screen sizes.

Over 52% of all online traffic is now mobile, making responsive/mobile-first design an absolute must.

Related reading: Mobile Web Page Design

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to website navigation, and what works for one site may not work for another.

A successful navigation system should enable visitors to find the information they need and encourage them to take action.

Let's take a look at some navigation bar examples that get it right. By checking out these examples, you can get a sense of what works and what doesn't.

Mega menus can be a great way to enhance the user experience with organized and intuitive navigation. They offer a range of useful menu design ideas that you can learn from.

A good relationship between products and CMS collections can provide a better user experience and information architecture. This is something to consider when designing your navigation system.

A deep dive into specific examples can be really helpful in understanding what makes a good navigation system. For instance, a news website and the Twenty Twenty WordPress theme are great examples to study.

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