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Figma Templates / 21 Jun 2025

How to Use Figma’s Smart Animate to Prototype Microinteractions

Microinteractions might be small, but they make a big impact on how users experience your designs.

Whether it’s a button that responds to a click, a progress bar that animates smoothly, or a subtle hover effect on a card, these details help bring interfaces to life and make them feel more responsive and polished.

Figma’s Smart Animate feature gives designers an easy way to prototype these kinds of microinteractions, without writing a single line of code.

In this guide, we’ll take a deep dive into how to use Smart Animate effectively, when it works best, and how to level up your prototypes so they feel like real, dynamic products.

Navigation / 11 Jun 2025

Mega Menus Revisited: UX Best Practices in 2025

Navigation is one of the first things users interact with on a website, and when it’s done well, they barely even notice it.

In 2025, mega menus continue to play a big role in navigation design for organizing content-heavy websites, but they’ve evolved.

Today’s mega menus are cleaner, smarter, and more mobile-friendly than ever before. If your site has lots of pages or product categories, a mega menu might just be your best option.

But like any design element, mega menus can hurt the user experience if they’re overdone or poorly implemented.

In this post, we explore the latest best practices for designing mega menus in 2025 and how to keep your navigation clear, accessible, and easy to use.

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 / 17 Feb 2020

10 Pros and Cons of Minimal Navigation in Web Design

There’s been a shift happening in website design for a while: navigation and menus are shrinking. Minimal navigation styles and elements are growing in popularity, despite arguments against the hamburger menu icon.

Although not all minimal navigation elements use this style, it’s certainly a visual style we’ve seen explode in use over the past few years.

But does it work? Should you consider using minimal navigation for projects? Here, we’re going to take a look at some pros and cons with examples of use. The answer might not be as simple as you think.

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.

Layouts / 26 Sep 2018

Infinite Scrolling: Pros and Cons

One-page websites are a major design trend. Especially when it comes to one-page designs packed with content, thanks to infinite scrolling techniques that allow designers to continue a webpage indefinitely.

This technique is great for some sites and content types, while for others it can be cumbersome and frustrating. Like any other design technique, you shouldn’t do it just because you want to try something new; it should be a strategic part of your design framework. So how can you decide? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of infinite scrolling websites.

Layouts / 20 Dec 2017

7 Ways to Ensure Your Long-Scrolling Website Is Successful

The old keep-it-above-the-scroll manta isn’t always what your content – and design – needs. Here are seven ways to create a long-scrolling website that will keep the attention of users, and hopefully keep them scrolling.

Long-scrolling can be a stellar way to engage users. Sometimes the best visual presentation possible doesn’t happen entirely above the scroll. Long-scrolling formats are websites that scroll multiple times to capture that content. Let’s put the often-debated concept to rest. Today’s users understand how and when to scroll.