Navigation bars, or no navigation bars?

Navigation bars and menus have been a standard component of most websites for well over a decade now. There are arguments whether they should be placed on the top, left or right hand side of the page, whether they should have drop down menus, or if they should look like tabs.

Do we really need them?

The question for me is not the position or appearance of the bars, but rather, do we really need them to help users to navigate website?

In a previous blog post, our MD Giles Colborne wrote about designing a better search where he used the concept ’start with the basics and refine gradually’ to avoid using advanced searches. I think the same concept can be applied to help people find the content they want without navigation bars.

It is possible to implicitly guide users through body text navigation, from the basic to the specific content. With informative, meaningful and non-ambiguous labels or headings, users could be able to predict where the content they want sits in the site and which content block they should click on. If necessary, a sub-heading, or a clear explanation about the contents could be added to improve explanation.

In one of our usability tests for a brand intranet website, we presented the target users with a prototype which contains both secondary or tertiary navigation bars (on the left hand side of the page) and content blocks that link to other pages in the site (repetition of side navigation links). From the homepage, the participants were asked to find a specific piece of information which was in the third level of the website. The findings showed all participants focused on, and navigated via content blocks on each page, without paying attention to the side navigation bars. We ran the same tests with French users and we found the same results. Only one of the users used the navigation bar.

If the bars aren’t there…

Side navigation bars often take up a fair amount of space especially if you have 33 left navigation bars like the Visit Weston-super-Mare website. Removing them can allow the space to be used more effectively. Also, removing navigation bars allows users to focus on the content itself, rather than having to look through both side navigation bars and the content to decide where they want to go.

Good use of content navigation

Apple’s website has cleverly avoided using side navigation bars, and presents both secondary and tertiary levels simultaneously in the content page allowing you to quickly glance through the options available. This design also allows Apple to include images for each product – perfect for such an aesthetically driven brand. Clicking on the images or labels takes you to product pages in one quick click. A great use of space, good aesthetic and neat interactive design!

Isn’t this is what we want to achieve in user interface design? I think sometimes it’s fine to break the norm, as long as the design achieves the goals of the website, smoothly guiding users to the content they are looking for.

Further reading:

Bohmann’s ideas on removing primary navigation bars