06/26/2022

Website Navigation Tips For Improving User Experience

Insights

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Many elements can be included in your website design to create a positive user experience. Your website design can have many elements that make or break the user experience.

The most important element in UX design website navigation can be the most crucial. They will be more likely to return.

Let’s look at the importance and design tips of website navigation. 

Why is website navigation so important?

Imagine this: You’ve been searching for the perfect bag for some time. Finally, you sit down to browse the websites of various designers. Next, you select your favorite and click the “checkout” button.

After all the browsing, it seems impossible to make a purchase. Finally, you give up and decide to choose another brand.

It’s all about making it easy for users to navigate a website navigation. Your site’s architecture has an impact on navigation. How links are laid out, how menus work, and how they link between pages can all affect navigation.

Good website navigation practices would prevent situations like the one below from happening for your brand. This has an immediate impact on traffic, conversion, and bounce rates.

There are many types of website navigation menus

The heart of navigation is your website’s menu. Site navigation is a collection of linked items that allow users to navigate between sections or pages on the website.

There is a wide variety of website navigation menus you can recognize. These visual examples are made using website templates. If implemented with our best practices, any of these options will help visitors navigate your site.

Navigation horizontal

The classic menu is located at the top left of your website’s head. A horizontal navigation menu that runs horizontally across your screen will show you all pages on your site.

This menu is an industry standard and easy to find.

Dropdown navigation

While we recommend that your menu items be limited, this is not always possible. Dropdown Menus can be large lists or panels that provide access to a wide range of options.

To create a hierarchy within an element, you can use design tools. This will prevent information overload. You can make each category and subcategory stand out by adding extra space around the item.

Hamburger menu

This icon is used most often for mobile navigation. It is most commonly used for mobile navigation. However, the hamburger menu icon can also be used on desktop versions. It’s especially useful for smaller icons such as those on mobile devices.

Sidebar

Sidebar navigations are vertical navigations found on the left or right sides of a webpage. The sidebar list can be as simple as you want.

Use the website footer to add social media links. Include the navigation menu at the top of the page.

Site navigation tips

  1. Sitemap for navigation
  2. Prioritize your pages
  3. Use conventions
  4. Use a sticky menu
  5. Limit the number of items
  6. Add Search Bar
  7. Label your menu clearly
  8. Add your logo to the Homepage
  9. Indicate the page that the user is on
  10. Ensure that visitors can access any page

1. Use a sitemap to plan navigation

Planning is essential when building a website.

To build this hierarchy, it is common to create sitemaps. It should indicate which pages visitors must access.

It can be created in many ways: as a diagram, flowchart, or spreadsheet.

2. Prioritize your pages

Think about where visitors should go first. This will depend on what type of website you make. But here are some guidelines: 

  • How do you guide your visitors through your funnel
  • What information is most important to you and your visitors
  • Do you have a purpose for your visitors? Is it easy to find in the navigation menu?

These pages must be part of your main navigation. They should also appear in the main menu.

3. Respect conventions

While it’s tempting to break the rules sometimes, there are times when best practices are best. Because they work, these design conventions and nuances are well-known.

Your website should be easy to navigate. We encourage you to let your brand’s personality shine through, but web design trends are also helpful. Focus on clarity, not artistic boldness, when it comes to navigation.

4. Use a sticky menu

A sticky menu (also known as a fixed or floating menu) is a menu that stays the same no matter how many people scroll down your website. It is especially important for scrolling pages. Your visitors shouldn’t have to scroll to the top to find another page.

To save time, you can add a “Back to Top” button. Your website’s design will determine which navigation method you use.

To create a floating menu, simply go to Kobe Digital’s left side and click “Add”, then “Menu”, then “Menu”, for the style you want.      

5. Limit how many items you have on your menu

Limit your menu to six or seven categories. This will make it easier for users to quickly process information and get to the pages they desire faster.

A dropdown list allows you to easily break down large amounts of information on your site. 

A custom search bar can be a useful navigation tool for content-heavy websites. They can understand it easily because it is intuitive.

It is best to position your search bar near your menu. This will make it easy for visitors to find your pages quickly.

7. Label your menu clearly

Once you have identified your items, you need to strategize about the labels you will use. Avoid micro-copy and industry jargon.

The menu text on your website should be clear, concise, and to the point. 

A descriptive navigation menu helps Google and other search engines find the topic of your website.

8. Add your logo to the homepage

This is a common error in web design and can be easily avoided.

Logos are usually placed on the left-hand side of a website’s header. The exact location of your logo can vary.

9. Indicate which page the user is currently on

We don’t like feeling confused. Website visitors can avoid feeling lost by clearly indicating the location of their website.

You can do this by adding breadcrumbs to your website. This makes navigation easy.

Breadcrumbs are a series of horizontal links separated by the “greater than” (> symbol. You can use arrows or other imagery that matches your site’s visual language.

A status bar is a good option for sites with lengthy content. This shows the user’s current location when they navigate through a page.

10. All pages should be accessible from the same page.

Last tip: Make sure visitors can connect to other pages on your website from their homepage. 

It’s easy to ensure that all pages are accessible from the menu. Make sure the website menu is consistent across all pages.

Tip: Anchor Links are a great navigation tool if you take into account the user experience when reading long pages of text such as blog posts and landing pages.

These links do not appear in your navigation menu. They are usually located at the top of the page. This allows visitors to focus on what is most important to them.

About the author

Kobe Digital is a unified team of performance marketing, design, and video production experts. Our mastery of these disciplines is what makes us effective. Our ability to integrate them seamlessly is what makes us unique.