For questions about the mechanisms you can use to help people find their way around your application or web site.
9
votes
5answers
202 views
Using a back panel image as navigation
I wanted to get some opinions and feedback on using an image of a back panel for navigation. In our current UI we have a setup of a appliance. The appliance has a number of ports and some need to be ...
9
votes
3answers
576 views
Android: Back Button Only vs. Extra Navigation
General UX question for Android:
Assume a simple view (activity or fragment) hierarchy, like so: A --> B. The transition from A to B is added to Android's back stack.
On screen B, is it best to ...
9
votes
5answers
866 views
What is the standard on always showing/not-showing second level navigation?
Our website has a global horizontal main menu that drops down to show all second-level navigation items.
We have requirements to build our website no wider than 1000px (according to web stats of ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
Fixed-position header and menu on a web page — is that okay?
A client of mine is insisting on two things for a website I am designing:
That every single link is shown in the header – about 10 links or so with no sub-categories. ie. no drop-downs, rollovers, ...
9
votes
2answers
522 views
Scrollbars in right-to-left layout
I'm currently developing the Arabic version of an existing iOS app.
iOS always displays scroll bars on the right. Should they be displayed on the left in RTL mode?
With right-aligned content (images ...
9
votes
4answers
374 views
Best Place for a Back Button on a 7" Tablet Menu
I'm currently building the interface of an Android Tablet digital restaurant menu.
The user is going to be able to navigate between categories and dishes lists and navigate back as well.
I'm finding ...
9
votes
1answer
829 views
Using a combination of horizontal navigation with submenus and vertical side navigation with submenus in one website
I've been involved in a website redesign where the navigation includes a primary horizontal navigation menu with one level of dropdowns and secondary navigation in the left column that repeats the ...
8
votes
4answers
452 views
Breadcrumbs and selected page
I have a unique situation (if there is another post here outlining it please link to me so I can remove mine).
I have a menubar at the top of my page with six links in it. Each link will take you to ...
8
votes
3answers
191 views
Why do menu labels behave differently in desktop applications and websites?
In a desktop application when you click a menu, you see all the options which reside within it, in a drop-down/pop-up list.
In many websites with a navigation menu which has sub-categories, I have ...
8
votes
8answers
368 views
Icons vs. Dropdown for primary mobile navigation
I am working on a responsive design in which there are 5 selections in the primary navigation. I'm thinking because there are only 5 I could use icons instead of a dropdown for the primary navigation. ...
8
votes
4answers
228 views
Is the upper-left logo an acceptable place to put a master site nav menu?
For a number of reasons, having a number of main nav dropdown menus in the top bar isn't feasible. I'm considering making a master site navigation dropdown by clicking a down arrow right next to the ...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
2 row navigation vs. dropdowns
I've seen two different types of navigation bars when a site requires nested navigation, one where hovering over a link drops down an additional menu, and one where a second horizontal bar is ...
8
votes
4answers
263 views
Navigation menu with only one drop-down child — intuitive or not?
Here is a website's main navigation:
Having sub-navigation on-click is pretty common and irreplaceable:
But as a user and designer, I have struggled with the case where there is only one child ...
8
votes
4answers
221 views
Linking a Navigation menu item to external URL
3 of 7 links on my navigation menu are external links to others websites (same company but other services/not the same domain). Those websites are not the core of the business.
Linking a navigation ...
8
votes
3answers
260 views
How can I differentiate Online products vs “Offline” products?
I'm helping re-design a website which has some products that can be purchased online and some which can only be purchased offline in physical stores.
Both the products you can buy and can't buy need ...
8
votes
3answers
216 views
Infinite scrolling and page views
I'm working on a content-delivery portal restyle. Basically, it has huge lists of addresses and numbers (sort of whitepages). What I was wondering is:
I wanted to test infinite scrolling and avoid ...
8
votes
4answers
493 views
How do I handle secondary navigation within a wizard-style form that will work for touch screens?
I am working on redesigning the UI for a Web app that registers users for something work-related (so my audience is captive). One of the main reasons for the redesign is to make it mobile-friendly; I ...
8
votes
2answers
799 views
Combining breadcrumb and selected facets/filters into one
Given a site with faceted-search, etc. I want to display the facets a user has selected, not only as part of the faceted-navigation controls (left vertical) but also at the top of the page.
Showing ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Usability of multi-level tabs versus dropdown menu for navigation
We're in the middle of a redesign of our client portal, and there's been some discussion about whether to pursue a multi-level tab design or a dropdown menu (used on the current version of the ...
8
votes
6answers
2k views
Making mega-menus accessible for keyboard users
Here's the situation. A large corporate site has a mega-menu in the primary navigation. The secondary-level page areas are available from within this dropdown (in this example the secondary levels are ...
8
votes
4answers
860 views
What is the top navigation called when it is common to a network or suite of websites?
What is the top navigation bar called when it is common to a suite or network of sites with a common login, as in StackExchange, 37 Signals (Basecamp, Backpack, etc.), or Google Apps for Your Domain?
...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
Is switching to a selectbox navigation for mobile devices a good solution for complex menus?
An example of this functionality can be found in this site (shrink the browser viewport to see the selectbox navigation take over.)
Is this a good practice? Wondering if anyone has any experience to ...
7
votes
4answers
4k views
Breadcrumbs: ok to use on mobile site?
Wondering if anyone has thoughts on using breadcrumbs as a method of navigation on a mobile website (for a content site). The breadcrumbs would show the heirarchy of the site as such:
Site >> ...
7
votes
5answers
539 views
When should you use task-based navigation over topic-based navigation?
What are the pros and cons of each?
7
votes
7answers
633 views
Is there a “nice” way to show navigation icons so they don't clutter the UI?
I've got a small desktop application that scans music folders and randomly chooses an album to play. The first version is WinForms and has "previous" and "next" buttons next to the album art that are ...
7
votes
6answers
365 views
Plus icon for new tab not working in user testing. Anomaly or actually confusing for users…
For Context:
So I am performing some user testing, and the interface is changing how tabs work with in the system. Currently tabs indicate the top level of different customer define hierarchies. The ...
7
votes
3answers
153 views
How to best deal with many thumbnails in a product image gallery
We have an image gallery with thumbnails that can be clicked to reveal a larger version of them in a viewport.
Here are some conditions that the layout needs to meet:
The Gallery has to cater to ...
7
votes
4answers
140 views
Card sort with 'Don't know' group
I've recently piloted an open card sort, and have had some feedback suggesting that respondents should be told that they can add a 'Don't know' group if they're not sure where to put cards. I'm ...
7
votes
5answers
317 views
Should pagination be capped in web app search results?
Search results can be a funky thing to design sometimes when it comes to the value of results for a user. IN this Web App I am helping build, the global search bar, when searched, can lists results ...
7
votes
3answers
353 views
Horizontal and vertical menus in web applications
It is now very common to find top horizontal menus in websites. Some reason of that might be habits and Jakob's law.
In web applications you might find a menu on top or on the left side equally. Most ...
7
votes
3answers
134 views
When Back Button is Expected but Not Supported, The Least Invasive User Assistance?
Problem: I have a situation where in a browser-based web application the back button (and backspace key for that matter) cannot be supported or used. If it is used, the results can be unpredictable in ...
7
votes
1answer
4k views
What is a good alternative to drop-down menus for site navigation on touch-screen/mobile devices?
We're in the process of redesigning our website, and one of the design goals is to make the site more mobile/tablet friendly.
Our current site is very large, and the navigation is somewhat ...
7
votes
4answers
159 views
Suggested mobile approach to dual actions
Let's say that you have a list of books that you want to show in a mobile application. From that list you want someone to be able to either drill down to a chapter list, or go to a page showing book ...
7
votes
3answers
302 views
Side Navigation Arrow Placement Right or Left?
I have been working on a project that involves reconstructing a page side navigation. Throughout the project i've researched current trends in navigation structure and noticed arrow placement on the ...
7
votes
4answers
162 views
Is it a problem to have a link to 'View Your Basket' and 'Go To Checkout' that both go to the same place?
I have an eComm site i'm specing at the moment. When you add stuff to the basket the on-page basket at the top of the page will update to give you a running total with links to view the full basket as ...
7
votes
3answers
175 views
Where do users expect to find the “create new account” functionality?
I'm developing a website where users will be able to sign in, and thus they need to be able to register.
Is it sufficient to include the registration functionality (or link to it) on the sign-in ...
7
votes
1answer
100 views
Accessible way to override tab key in textarea
I'd like to create a textarea for code which would allow the user to press Tab and Shift + Tab to indent and outdent the content respectively, however I'm worried that overriding the Tab key would ...
7
votes
4answers
3k views
iPhone App: Tab Bar vs. Dashboard (aka Grid Navigation). Or both?
I'm working on an iPhone app (early stage) and we had some discussions on the best navigation system:
Dashboard style (examples)
This would be the home screen. What I like: Good feature overview; a ...
7
votes
3answers
532 views
Horizontal menus, do they scale?
I'm a user of a popular website that uses horizontal menus for navigation. As the site's functionality grows, the number of menu items also grow. As the horizontal space is limited, the design choice ...
7
votes
1answer
111 views
Easiest cursor move?
In relation to making a pie-menu.
I've tried finding research on this, but to no avail.
My reasoning is this: Put the most used features at the easiest places (although putting opposites.. opposite ...
7
votes
1answer
99 views
Relying on Android 'back' button to close a modal window
I tested an app yesterday that my team is working on. It has a hamburger navigation, and one of the items inside that nav is a callout to leave feedback. When you tap the feedback row, a modal screen ...
7
votes
5answers
449 views
Breadcrumb menu in the footer
I'm a big fan of the Apple web site. However, I was wondering why they have put their breadcrumb menu in the footer. I thought the idea of the breadcrumb menu was to let the visitors to get a quick ...
7
votes
3answers
167 views
Multiple Navigations - messy or necessary?
I'm looking at UEFA's website and seeing they have 3 navigations menus.
Is there any support for this being a good UX? The organization does alot, and structuring their site this way might make ...
7
votes
4answers
296 views
UX idiom for closing activity: X-icon vs up-button vs back button
We're launching a search activity when hitting the global search button (i.e. the hardware search key, if present, or a search icon in the Action Bar.) It should be noted here that the search activity ...
7
votes
2answers
364 views
Does moving the secondary navigation impact a users experience?
I'm in the process of designing the navigation for a web application.
I have a few different types of views. One is a map, the others are all fairly similar and are like a standard web page.
Mapping ...
7
votes
2answers
221 views
How large should the logo be for easy clickability?
I was skimming through some of the older questions namely Is 'Home' button still a must? and Home button vs Logo link? and there seems to be a general impression that the home logo serves as a general ...
6
votes
6answers
211 views
“Back to Top” alternate wording?
Seems that a "Back to Top" button is helpful and useful — especially for mobile sites.
However, on websites that want to come across as "classy", it may sound a little primitive.
Personally, I ...
6
votes
2answers
176 views
Is it OK to have a global navigation tab link to another site?
My organisation, which provides information and advice, is starting to sell things online as well. The 'shop' will be run on a different platform and is effectively a different website (but will be ...
6
votes
2answers
294 views
Should 'Home' be included in website breadcrumbs?
This may vary based on your site hierarchy and IA but when configuring breadcrumbs should they include home or stop the first filter (categories, for example).
Which is better? I have seen both used ...
6
votes
5answers
254 views
Two-level menus: Why? and When?
Two level menus: should they be used? Why are they important?
I never found any resource explaining this.
Should I avoid them and only use them when you really have too much stuff to present?
