Sticky menus? What is that? I hear you say. Well before going into exactly what it is, let’s backtrack and take a look at the daily user experience you go through when it comes to website design. We’re so used to scrolling up a web page to get back to the navigation menu, this can be a bit of a pain especially when you’re reading an incredibly long and detailed blog post. This is where sticky menus (or fixed menus) come in. Sticky menus are included in website design functions as a way to help users be more comfortable with their browsing experience.
What do sticky menus do?
Sticky menus are useful because they’re literally sticky! While you scroll down a page, the navigation menu sticks to the top and follows the user as they move up or down. This is a great way website design agencies can improve the user experience of client websites.
Take a look at Tech Crunch, for example, a popular tech and social blog. The navigation appears above all the content, and scrolls down with the user, as described. It also blends in really well with everything else on the page. It would be a good practice to look into some examples of this to get a better feel of how the function works.
What does it mean for website design?
Unlike a lot of unique functions that exist in website design, sticky menus can be implemented using simple CSS or Jquery/Javascript. This is good news for website designers because it means the function can be implemented fast, so they can get on with other aspects of the website. Another advantage of website design is that sticky menus eliminate the need for iframes, which have very negative effects for SEO.
Things to consider?
Before asking your website design agency to implement sticky menus (or fixed menus) to your website, you have to consider some important issues. In terms of design, it can be a little intrusive to the content if not well thought-out and executed. You wouldn’t want a navigation menu that obstructs all the content you’re trying to promote do you?
The next issue to consider is the fact that mobile and tablet browsing is considered the norm now. It can be a tedious task to implement sticky menus for mobile devices, so ask your website design agency about what this means, and how to get around any issues that might occur.
