You want an easy to use website, right?
A primary goal of a website owner should be to have an easily-navigable layout. You will want visitors to stay on your website and find everything that they need quickly. To make sure that the visitor knows where and how to get desired information, you should use a navigation menu. Think of this menu as a map that will guide visitors. It is a part of every good website.
Fortunately, creating a high-quality navigation is easy and you will only need to follow a few key guidelines.
Standing Out
You want your menu and navigation buttons easy to find. For this, you should make them distinct from the surrounding content. If you have a white background, do not use a white or light grey menu. Instead, use a darker color so it stands out. In other words, you want contrast between your content and your menu. This also means you should make the menu a different size and font.
Also, you will want your menu to be simple and easy to follow. Make sure the layout of the menu is straightforward and does not have too many submenus. You want visitors to look at the menu and know exactly where to click next. This means that your menu should be descriptive.
Finally, you want your menus to be consistent across your entire website. Do not change the menu layout on different pages. Keep it the same so that visitors are not confused.
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Bonus tip: Make sure that your menu is short and simple. You don’t want a menu with 30 options.
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Organization
While a menu that is easy to find is good, you will need to do more to have a good website. You will need the menu to be organized. People focus most on the beginning and ends of things. Because of this, you should make the beginning of your menu the most important. You should make the end of your menu second in importance. Everything in the middle will be the least important.
Good organization of your menu can make sure that your menu loads quickly and does not interrupt the visitor. Another tip is to make the menu “stick” when opened. This means that when visitors open the menu, it should stay open even if they scroll down on the page.
Accessibility
The first thing you want with your menu is interactivity. For example, when a visitor puts their cursor over an item on your menu, the item changes color or size. This will make sure that visitors know what they will be clicking on. It will save them time and make it easier to find information.
Another key requirement for a good website is to make sure it can be accessed on mobile phones, old browsers, and all operating systems. Also, you should aim for having a website that does not require Javascript to view and does not require a mouse to navigate.
Finally, you should have your menu tested by users. Their feedback is valuable and can help you to make a better menu. Some people might have good suggestions for you too.
In conclusion, high-quality navigation will make sure that readers stay on your website for a longer time. Be sure to follow the guidelines and experiment with ideas to find the one that fits your style.