Navigation in Web Design: Types, Benefits and Best Practices

Navigation is an essential part of web design. Learn about different types of navigation used in web design, their benefits & best practices.

Navigation in Web Design: Types, Benefits and Best Practices

Navigation is an essential part of web design, as it helps users find the information they need quickly and easily. There are several types of navigation used in web design, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. The megamenu is a drop-down interface that appears when the user hovers over a link or defined area. It usually shows all the options in a main panel and groups related topics into categories.

However, megamenus can be overwhelming and difficult to display on mobile devices. The hamburger menu is a compact three-line button that consolidates a list of links. It's popular in mobile apps and sites due to its efficient use of space, but it may be inaccessible to screen readers. Megamenus are also common on e-commerce websites, such as Amazon, which have a large panel containing all the categories and subcategories of the site.

This format allows people to understand the content of the website at a glance and quickly find their preferred category. However, megamenus can be overwhelming and cluttered on mobile devices.The upper horizontal bar is one of the two most popular types of site navigation menu design patterns. It's usually located directly above or below the site heading of all web pages on a site and is sometimes combined with drop-down menus. This type of navigation bar should be designed with usability, viability and accessibility in mind.

Quick links provide access to important content or areas of the site that may not be represented in global navigation. Footer navigation is primarily used as secondary navigation and may contain links that don't fit in the main navigation.When designing navigation bars, it's important to listen to your users and create what seems most intuitive to them. This will help create a navigation bar that not only surprises your users, but also makes your site easier for them to read. Additionally, it's beneficial to have a persistent navigation mechanism throughout the site, especially on large, information-rich sites.

By following these best practices for designing navigation bars, you can create an effective navigation system for your website.