Fixed-Position Menu in Website Design – Enhancing Site Navigation

Navigation has always been the most crucial element in website design because this is what determines how well users can explore the site and find the right information. There are numerous ways of setting up the navigation menu to make the site not only easy to browse, but also enhances the overall appearance of the site. One of the most popular navigation styles these days is the fixed-position menus.

In websites design that use traditional navigation style, users have to scroll up each time to access the menu. The fixed-position menu or sticky menu, on the other hand, remains static in its place, so that it doesn’t move up as the user scrolls down the web page. More users prefer websites with sticky menus because they can be accessed even when the web page has been scrolled down. This also ensures that people can move on to next web page in less time when the websites has a sticky menu in contrast with the websites with standard navigation menus.

Here, we outline some of the common benefits of fixed-position menus that most web users have experienced –

-    Quicker navigation

-    Ease of use

-    Higher accessibility of web pages

-    Mobile-friendly

-    Improved user experience

While it is not suitable in every situation, fixed-position menus can be a good alternative to traditional ones when it comes to improving the usability and user experience. Though it is mostly preferred for the primary navigation menu, fixed-position style is also used is the side bars and footers.

For web designers who are considering to use sticky menus in their websites, must have a look at the tips mentioned below in order to make the site easy-to-use.

Use CSS – Most web designers use CSS to create fixed-position menu as it is easy to implement and quickest to code. The position, margin-top and z-index have to be adjusted in order to make the menu work for your website.

Should not compete with content for attention – The position of the menu bar has to be determined carefully so that it does not obstruct the content or takes away all the attention from it. Content should always be the most important element of the web page and the menu should ideally be either on top of the page, on side bar or at the footer. Positioning it in the centre of the page is a bad idea as it obstructs reading of the content.

Ideal for websites that have long web pages – The perfect situation for using sticky menus is when the web pages of the site are too long. This menu style ensures that the user doesn’t have to scroll all the way up to reach the menu.

Do not use iFrames – This tool can be used for creating fixed-position menu but it should be avoided because it hampers cross-browser compatibility and search engine optimisation of the site.

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Web Design Services: How to Choose the Reputed Company?

If you are thinking to design or re-design a website, then this article can help you out. These days, almost every company is having its own website. All the essential information including work details and contact information are given on the website. Thus, websites play an essential role in the success of a company.

Always remember the fact that users surf those websites only which they find user-friendly and appealing. If they find the website to be dull or outdated, they immediately move to the next website. Thus, it is crucial to have latest web designs which are eye-catching to the customers.

If you really want to make attractive and appealing web pages, you will definitely need the website design services. There are several trustworthy as well as professional IT companies which are offering excellent quality web design services. A reputed designing company can provide you with professional guidance which can bring positive results in your business.

Web development as well as design can sound easy for the people, but in reality it includes several efforts and planning to achieve the preferred results. Always choose that company which offers unique web page designs. This will attract more potential customers for your business.

Prior choosing any company for designing your website, you must check its portfolio. By looking at the portfolio, you can easily review all the project details of the company. Apart from this, make sure that the company you are choosing has expertise in various designing software such as Adobe, Flash, Java, etc. The staff of the company should be professional and well trained.

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How to Simplify Navigation through Responsive Menus in Mobile Website Design?

Responsive website design is now a widespread concept in the industry – thanks to the rising popularity of smartphones and mobile web technologies. The entire focus of responsive websites is to ensure finest viewing experience by combining a fluid layout and media queries to fit different screen sizes. The ability to easily read and navigate with minimum resizing, panning and scrolling across a wide range of devices makes responsive websites ideal for this post-PC age.

Responsive Navigation Menus – Enhancing User Experience

Responsive menus are the key to successful mobile websites. With the help of CSS media queries, the task of designing responsive navigation links becomes easier. There are different points to consider when designing a responsive menu, such as having a different style, different content or different location on the page. Adapting to a responsive menu not only simplifies the navigation but also enhances the design and the user experience.

To understand how to use responsive menus for superior navigation and user experience, we present 4 easy approaches –

• Changing the visual design to fit narrower screens – The screen resolution of smartphones and tablets are smaller than that of PCs and laptops. This means that, when viewed on the narrower screens, the visuals wouldn’t be as appealing as they are otherwise. This is why, adjusting the visual design to portrait and landscape modes can help a lot.

•  Improving tappability of navigation links for touch devices – In smaller devices, mouse is replaced by the thumb, which is relatively bigger in size. Tapping on the small links with the thumb sometimes doesn’t always take us to the right link. This is why adjusting the size of the navigation links using CSS and making them look like buttons greatly improve their tappability.

• Adjusting the location of the menu – The placement of the menu bar is also an important factor when focusing on simpler navigation and better user experience on mobile devices. On small screen devices such as mobile phones, relocating the menu to the bottom of the page (above the footer) makes sense because when the user has finished reading that page, they know where to go from there using those navigation links at the bottom.

•  Displaying different menu styles – There are variations in the screen size of mobile devices. Using CSS, you can display different styles of the menu in difference devices. For some websites, radical alterations to the menu are required, while for others a different structure would do.

Each approach has different implications, and before you adopt any of these for your mobile website design, it is important to consider a number of factors such as the focus of the website, the nature of the menu and the requirements of the target audience.

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