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Dec 10

Eye-Catching Websites With Horizontal Navigation Menu

A website is like a magazine where people search for information. The table of contents of a magazine is like the navigation of a website. Table of contents provides an overview of your magazine, while navigation also shows on what your viewers should expect to see on your website. Both serves as pathways for your viewers on how they can explore your website.

Whenever I think of what is the most important task a web designer could do, I always end up thinking that it should be the creation of good navigation. It must be well-designed in a user-friendly manner that the moment the viewer sees it, they instantly understand how it is used and what is it for. A navigation must also be creatively done, it is one of the elements you can find on a website where you can capture a viewer’s attention.

What’s kind of menus is good for web navigation?

The less click, the better.

Viewers tend to be impatient when searching for information; they want to seek what they are searching very quickly. Make sure that your navigation responds as quickly as possible to your viewers’ instincts.

Horizontal Navigation Menu

Horizontal navigation is the widely used navigation of web designers today. Usually, the navigation bar is placed right under the header.

Good Characteristics:
1. It occupies less space
Horizontal navigation is mostly used by web designers for it occupies less space, because it is placed at the top part of the website. Then, the rest of the spaces you can use for your content.

2. More noticeable
Our eyes first notice elements of the website that are placed on the center, that is why horizontal menus are more noticeable since they are placed on the top and center part of the website.

3. Easier to use
Viewers find horizontal navigation easier to use. Comparing it to vertical navigation, you still have to move your mouse pointer on the left part of the screen (or sometimes right) to click the menus. If the navigation is horizontally placed, you just have to move your pointer upward to click a menu button.

4. Viewers are already used to it
Since it is the mostly used navigation, viewers always expect that all websites have this type of navigation.

Bad Characteristics:

1. Limited space for your menus
When using horizontal navigation, you are limited on the width space of your website and this still depends on the layout of your website.

2. Can only be used if number of menus are already known
Horizontal navigation can only be used if the number of your menus is already fixed, because the size and design depends on the number of menus to be placed.

View Horizontal Navigation Menu Samples for Inspiration: