Hi folks (not sure why he's there, ahem...)

 

My boss and I recently discussed the latest trends with navigation menus on conventional websites, sparked by an article posted by this site: http://www.bowencraggs.com/best-practice/commentaries/338.

 

I don't expect people to read it, so here's the gist: this fellow, who seems fanatical towards left-sided navigation menus as evidenced by the loooonggg menu on that page, argues that horizontal, top-of-the-page based nav menus spoil the integrity of some websites content, particularly sites you wouldn't use very often and therefore cannot become familiar with.

 

He suggests things like company sites selling products shouldn't bury their product pages in amongst various sub-pages due to a restrictive horizontal menu. In essence, he seems to believe left-sided vertical menus are more user-friendly and horizontal menus with only a few links are too design-biased.

 

Personally, I see this guy's point, but I don't think reverting back to classic left-sided menus is the answer. They can easily intrude on the main content (and it's all about content nowadays, and rightfully so) and only work on certain sites - sites that don't necessarily require a lot of room for content, whereas horizontal menus above the content work universally.

 

Additionally, horizontal top menus work well nested at the top whilst scrolling down the page, so you always have the nav with you. Ultimately, I think this guy has a point about sites making it difficult to access content with a restrictive top menu, but returning to the old days when left-sided menus were in fashion wouldn't necessarily coincide with current design trends, especially with responsive designs.

 

So what's your view? It's an interesting matter since navigation menus can often be sidelined as a minor aspect of a modern site in order for the main content to take priority.

I think he's missing the point, left nav or not. The problem is that most sites are far more complex than they need to be, mainly due to bad design or appalling content structure/editors. Take a typical corporate/business site, most of them use their home pages and key inner pages to bleat about how fantastic they are instead of using good customer centric task based design.

 

When you look at https://www.gov.uk/ you see a site that has been designed with the customer in mind, note there's no traditional navigation (top or left!), just a task based navigation system that allows customers quick access to what they want. Compare that to http://group.barclays.com/home and all you get is corporate "let's tell the world how good we are" instead of customer key tasks, eg where do I find info on Barclays interests rates from that page?

When you look at https://www.gov.uk/ you see a site that has been designed with the customer in mind, note there's no traditional navigation (top or left!), just a task based navigation system that allows customers quick access to what they want.

 

In all honesty though, this new-blue look for Gov.uk is long overdue; the previous orangey and white site was absolutely dreadful in terms of design, look, user-friendliness and crucially navigation. The hardest part of getting my student loan was finding my way around.

what about, hmm what's the term. mega menus? the ones that expand to show all available options almost like a site map?

what about, hmm what's the term. mega menus? the ones that expand to show all available options almost like a site map?

 

Kind of like Ebuyer's sub-menu solution?: http://www.ebuyer.com/

@throzen yeah like that