The Ins and Outs of Dynamic Navigation Menus

October 25th, 2011    3 Comments

All web designers go through phases struggling with creative ideas. It’s a natural part of the creation cycle, but it can become frustrating as you’re stuck on a website project for more than a few days. There isn’t any one-size-fits-all solution. But we can take a moment to analyze the design process for better solutions.

The main goal of any website is to lead visitors through your pages. This is accomplished via a navigation of some type, most commonly links. You can build tab bars, banners, block elements, or even float a nav menu off to the side.

Follow us in the guide below as we look through common trends in web navigation menu design. Both designers and developers have come up with tricks for expediting the process of building websites. And we hope to do the same by offering some unique tips for UI navigation.

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Custom Web Design Techniques for Unusual Navigation

June 13th, 2011    5 Comments

Page navigation is arguably the most important aspect to any properly constructed website. How easily your visitors can travel from page-to-page will affect the overall emotion and user interface of your website.

Great web designers always keep a surprise around every corner, and navigation menus can feature this big time. From fullpage to corner links I’ve shared a few great examples of unusual website navigation. Hopefully these ideas can incite a barrage of creativity within yourself and any future projects.

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iOS Usability Tips and Resources for iPhone and iPad Apps

May 2nd, 2011    3 Comments

The process required for designing mobile applications takes dedication and eye-numbing precision. Most graphics designers won’t spend their time in this area since pixel-perfect creation becomes tiresome quickly. And although mobile design isn’t for everyone it does hold a special place in the hearts of many.

For those out there interested to get started designing for mobile I’d recommend skimming a few of the ideas presented below. Previously we’ve discussed creative UI design techniques and offer solutions for iPhone and iPad designers.

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30+ Innovative Icon-Based Navigation Menus

July 15th, 2010    29 Comments

Here at Design Shack we love a good navigation menu. Lately we’ve noticed a trend arising around menus that use icons either exclusively in place of text or as a support of additional textual information.

Adding icons to your navigation can not only give you an aesthetic boost but actually make for a quicker visual read of the link. Here’s a collection of over thirty icon-based navigation menus that we found online. We’ll conclude with a few resources you can use to snag some free icons to create your own fancy menus.

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30 Gorgeous and Versatile CSS Menus

April 30th, 2010    39 Comments

Sometimes the navigation menu can be one of trickiest parts of the design process. This single area can set the tone for the usability of the entire site.

Today we’ll look at 30 inspiring examples of good menu design. Though many are pure CSS, others add in some images and/or JavaScript to increase the aesthetic and functionality.

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10 Techniques for a Fantastic Footer

January 5th, 2010    125 Comments

A strong footer can leave your visitors with a lasting positive impression.

There are tons of creative ways to boost the cool factor of your footers by focusing on both form and function. Below you’ll find 10 simple ideas to inspire you towards footer greatness.

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Simple Hover CSS Menu

November 11th, 2008    2 Comments

Our partner site, 13 Styles has just released a new CSS menu called “Simple Hover“. It is, as the name suggests, a simple affair, with a link description appearing when hovered over.

The menu is completely free to download, use and customize, contains no images (it’s all CSS) and should work in any browser or operating system you use.

Please let me know if you find any problems or would like to contribute a menu in the future.

Visit

Creating a jQuery Dashboard

October 29th, 2008    19 Comments

The ‘Dashboard’ feature on a Mac looks great, and the menu allowing you to add/remove widgets is a well designed feature. A similar effect can add a whole new level of functionality to a website, providing a simple slide-down menu at the top of a page. This tutorial will walk you through the process from beginning to end.

Before getting started, you may like to check out the demo, or download full source code here.

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Free Gloss CSS Menu

August 16th, 2008    4 Comments

Our partner site, 13 Styles have just launched a new addition to their range of free CSS menus. It comes pre-built in red, orange and grey, working in all major browsers. Best of all, it’s completely free for you to download and use!

Download the menu

Top 10 CSS Navigation Menus

March 26th, 2008    16 Comments

Creating navigation with CSS is one of the most crucial elements of website design. Get the navigation right, and people will feel welcomed and at home. Get it wrong, and it can spell trouble for your website. This is a great collection of 10 CSS navigation examples and tutorials to get you in the creative mood.
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