![]() ![]() The first thing we need to do is remove the standard styling that appears around unordered list items. For our purposes, we’re going to create a list of five list items. How to Create a Simple Navigational MenuĪ navigation menu is a list of links, as a result, most navigation menus are built using an unordered list of anchor elements. It is also a standard convention to position a “Contact” link as the final element in a navigation menu and to left-align the link if the menu design is a horizontal navigation bar. Order the rest of your links in order of importance. Instead, use that valuable virtual real estate for your most important page. Are you giving up the first position to a “Home” link? Consider removing that link entirely since virtually all web users today expect to reach the homepage by clicking on a website icon in the upper lefthand position on every page. Be thoughtful and strategic about the first and last links in your navigation elements. In a list of links, the links appearing at the beginning and end of the list tend to get the most attention. Be Thoughtful About the Order of Menu Items If you have a very large and complex website, mega menus are an effective tool and one that tests well. Mega drop-down menus are the one exception to the rule that drop-down menus are ineffective. Instead of visiting the parent page, if drop-down menus are provided visitors use them to bypass the parent page and head directly to the child page. Drop-down menus also have the effect of diluting the number of visitors that visit your major parent pages. Avoid drop-down menus if possible since usability studies have found that most website visitors are annoyed by them, and they can create barries to accessibility if poorly designed. Provide submenus on major parent pages rather than trying to fit all of your pages into a single, complicated navigation element. Unless you really need a complex menu to make your site navigable, make your menu is a single bar containing just a handful of items. When selecting text labels for your navigation menu items, keep the text short and don’t be afraid of getting creative by using labels that are unique to your industry or business. Both the layout of your menu and the text you use to label menu items should be as simple as possible. Simple navigation menus are better than complex ones.
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