How to make a menu for a site? Features of Menu.

Choosing a menu for a site.

Whatever the site, without which it certainly cannot do, is without a menu. And often on one side, there are several menus at once – for the main and additional navigation. To make the menu for the site right, it is important to consider the features of the type of this site, its theme, volume, etc.

On different sites, the menu is implemented in different ways: somewhere it’s the usual vertical or horizontal text menu, and somewhere it’s a non-standard flash menu or a menu in pictures. Factors affecting the choice of a solution are very diverse. For example, always more importance is attached to the availability of the menu under different conditions of use of the site.

In particular, we are talking about the accessibility of the menu when viewed on mobile devices: when choosing the right menu, it is important to consider whether mobile users can work with such a menu. Indeed, for example, the menus that appear when you hover the mouse, by definition, can not work on modern mobile gadgets with touch controls – for the simple reason that such devices do not have a cursor.

Another important nuance of use on mobile devices regarding the development of menus for a site is the use of flash technologies to cate menus. Such options, albeit not so often, but still found, but meanwhile the playback of flash-content in mobile devices, as a rule, is not supported. As a result, if the menu is made in “flash”, mobile visitors to the site will not be able to fully use it.

The next factor that is usually paid attention to when creating a menu for a site is its design. Today it may be the most diverse, but in most cases, preference is given to the classic vertical or horizontal menu – they are familiar to visitors, it is easy to work with them. True, there are also nuances here. For example, when developing horizontal menus, it is not customary to execute them in two or more lines, and a column with a vertical menu should not occupy too wide a part of the page; as a result, the names of the items in such a menu are usually short.

In close connection with the design of the menu, its implementation by the software is considered. The simplest and most familiar option is the HTML menu, but you can also create site menus using Javascript and the already mentioned Flash. A menu created using HTML and CSS is usually preferable, since even search bots can “read” such a menu, which makes it possible to fully index the site.

It is impossible not to mention the menu structure for the site. In most cases, the menu has a hierarchical structure, and for the convenience of navigating the site, the menu nesting depth, as a rule, does not exceed 3 levels. If, nevertheless, it is necessary to make the menu “deeper”, then instead of the hierarchical structure, you can apply the “lattice” structure. A similar menu structure is particularly popular in online stores.

Depending on the type and volume of the site, when creating it, you can do just one menu, or you can do a few more. Additional menus for the site are designed according to the same key principles as the basic ones, that is, they should be accessible to visitors and search engines, should have a convenient structure and not too much “depth”.

Well-designed main and additional menus on the site help maintain a high level of usability, which means that in the future they contribute to a good conversion of site visitors to customers or customers of the company. So the work on the web design of the menu, as well as on the web design of the site as a whole, is best trusted by those who possess the necessary knowledge and practical experience in this field – specialists of the web design.
Our web company GCC MARKETING offers both integrated website development and separately developing website web design, website optimization, website support and other services necessary to ensure the full operation of websites. You can familiarize yourself with examples of sites executed in GCC MARKETING in our portfolio, and by filling out an online application for web site design, you will learn how together with you we can use the full potential of the site to get an effective assistant to your business.