Sometimes the most subtle design decisions can vastly improve or hurt the overall user experience in the world of web design. In a field constantly subject to new visual design trends, user expectations, and form factor changes, it can be tough to keep up with the most effective solutions for seemingly simple pieces of functionality like a website’s navigation menu. Some tried and true methods tend to stick around, but that doesn’t mean that they’re always the best for your current users.
On mobile devices, especially, the requirements are constantly evolving. Navigations need to look great and work well on a 10” tablet, a 6” “phablet”, or a 4” phone. Let’s take a look at some reliable navigation options that focus on ease of use while still complementing your website design across a multitude of mobile devices.
Hamburger Menu
Bottom Navigation
Scrolling Navigation
A scrolling navigation is an interesting concept that works in the same vein as the bottom navigation but removes the limitation of how many items you can list along the bottom of the screen, and this allows you to fully move away from a hamburger menu. The key here is to make sure you include some form of indicator to the user so they know that section can be scrolling horizontally. This could include having one of the buttons reside slightly off the screen, adding an arrow or fade to the bar towards the far right, a scroll bar just above the nav, or any other visual prompt. This unique take on the bottom navigation still allows you to provide quick access to the most popular pages on your site while presenting the rest of your navigation in an effective manner.
Those are just a few examples of great mobile navigations to make your responsive site beautiful and easy to navigate. The web design community is always coming out with new, unique ways to distinguish their projects from the rest, so next time you’re ready for a website refresh or just want to improve upon your current website, take a look at your navigation!