Navigation

Navigation / 26 May 2025

Sticky vs. Dynamic Navigation: Which Improves Engagement?

Navigation is one of the most important elements in web design. It’s how users explore your content, interact with your brand, and ultimately decide whether to stay or leave.

But as websites have evolved, so have the ways we design navigation. Two approaches in particular, sticky and dynamic navigation, have become common in modern interfaces.

Both styles aim to make the user experience smoother, but they take different paths to get there.

Sticky navigation keeps key links always visible, no matter how far you scroll. Dynamic navigation changes as the user interacts, creating a cleaner and more adaptive experience.

So, which one actually drives better engagement? And how do you decide which is right for your site?

In this post, we’ll break down the pros and cons of each, look at where they work best, and help you choose a navigation style that supports your content, your audience, and your goals.

Navigation / 10 Feb 2025

Breadcrumb Navigation: Do You Really Need It?

When it comes to website navigation, user experience is everything. Visitors need to find their way around easily, without frustration or confusion. That’s where breadcrumb navigation comes in.

Breadcrumbs help users track their journey through a website, showing them exactly where they are and how they got there. But do all websites really need breadcrumb navigation?

Some argue that breadcrumbs are unnecessary if a website has a well-structured menu and intuitive navigation. Others believe they are an essential usability feature that improves navigation, reduces bounce rates, and enhances SEO.

Unfortunately, many websites still neglect the value of this feature. According to a study, 36% of e-commerce sites don’t provide breadcrumbs on their mobile product pages, which often leads to users getting lost in hundreds of product pages and listing potential sales.

In this post, we’ll explore what breadcrumb navigation is, when it’s useful, and whether your website really needs it. Let’s dive in.

Navigation / 18 Mar 2024

What Is a Sitemap in Web Design?

The sitemap is a pivotal component of a website’s architecture. It’s a strategic tool that organizes and clarifies the structure of a website both for its creators and its users.

In this post, we delve into the essence of sitemaps in web design, exploring their significance, varieties, and the benefits they bring to user experience and search engine optimization (SEO).

Sitemaps play an important role in the web development process and learning how to leverage them effectively is key to building a successful website.

Navigation / 20 Dec 2021

8 Tips for Better Hyperlink Text

Better hyperlinks will create more useful user experiences. It starts with the words you use in the button or linked copy. (And “click here” is not the answer!)

If you want to generate more—and better—conversions from links, it’s important to focus on writing better microcopy for every link on your website.

These tips, which apply to hyperlinks throughout the design (not button microcopy) can help you think through the process.

Join us as we explore pitfalls to avoid, tips for punctuation, and the types of visual indicators that work well for links.

Navigation / 7 Jul 2021

An Introduction to Horizontal Scrolling (+ Pros and Cons)

Horizontal scrolling has come a long way from hero sliders. It’s now simpler to implement, somewhat more acceptable from a UX point of view, and offers plenty of creative opportunity.

A horizontal scrolling technique can be engaging and visually interesting. Conversely, some elements can be missed by users and it can present some accessibility challenges.

Here, we’ll look at everything horizontal scrolling, including pros and cons to help you figure out if this technique is right for your website design projects.

Navigation / 18 May 2020

5 Reasons to Avoid the Desktop Hamburger Menu Icon

A hamburger icon as the only source of navigation on a desktop website sucks. It’s frustrating, confusing, and violates unwritten rules of navigation and user flow best practices. Why would you do it? Other than to maintain or establish a certain aesthetic, it’s hard to find an answer that makes any sense.

The often-debated hamburger icon can be a great complement to website navigation or even for small screens, but it shouldn’t be the only option for desktops. You are doing yourself – and the website design – a huge disservice if this is your only menu option.

Take note of the different desktop menu styles throughout this post. Some of the best uses of the hamburger icon come with other menu items.

Navigation / 27 Mar 2019

10 Modern Website Navigation Tips & Ideas

One of the elements of website design that you don’t always think about first is navigation. (Although you probably should.) How will users move around the design? How will they find elements that aren’t obvious to them?

Website navigation trends have changed a lot; moving away from overwhelming mega menus to lighter more minimal options. And there’s some value to that thought – too many choices can overwhelm users. Provide the information they need in the space they need it to increase engagement. Don’t throw the kitchen sink at them!

Today, we’ll look at a few modern website navigation tips and ideas to help you do just that.

Navigation / 24 May 2017

Design Trend: Side Navigation Is Everywhere, but Does It Work?

There’s a trending topic in website design navigation: sidebar menus. More designers are working with vertical side navigation for projects, with a specific location on the left side for many of these website designs.

And while it looks nice and can help streamline clutter in the overall canvas, does it really work? Will users respond to side navigation? Is it a design trend that you should consider? Today, we’ll try to get to the heart of the questions with some practical and usable answers.

Navigation / 14 Mar 2012

Code a Responsive Navigation Menu

Navigation menus used to be a fairly simple thing. Code up an unordered list, float it left and you’re good to go. With responsive design being all the rage these days though you’re faced with some new challenges when creating a menu design.

Follow along as we start from scratch and code a simple but effective responsive navigation menu that you can easily modify and reuse in your own projects.

Navigation / 6 Feb 2012

Code a Useful Expanding Vertical Navigation Menu

Today we have yet another awesome step-by-step CSS project for you! This time around we’re going to build a super useful expanding vertical navigation menu. It’s a great way to hide a lot of links in a fairly small space and the animations will add a nice touch to your site.

Even if you’re a complete beginner, you should be able to pull this off. I’ll guide you along every step of the way and explain how each chunk of code works so you can implement these same techniques in future projects and deepen your understanding of CSS. Let’s get started!

Navigation / 19 Sep 2011

Build an Animated Mario Block Navigation Menu With CSS3

Today we’re going to have some good clean fun by recreating the animated Mario Bros. question mark box with pure CSS3.

Along the way you’ll learn how to use several cool CSS3 technologies such as rounded corners, box and text shadows, and keyframe animations that work in both Safari and Firefox. Let’s jump in!

Navigation / 26 Aug 2010

Create a Fun Animated Navigation Menu With Pure CSS

In recent years jQuery has become the easiest and best supported way to implement simple animations online. JavaScript is exceptionally good at what it does and this article is in no way an argument against it.

However, CSS3 offers a glimpse into a possible future where basic animations are performed with straight CSS completely independent of scripting. Today we’ll take a look at how to use CSS3 to create a fun and unique navigation menu that uses @font-face, transforms and transitions.