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So far, I have a sticky nav with a button to purchase the course, the price of the course and a Wish List button. These elements are very important for revenue purposes. However, I'm not sure what else I should put on the sticky nav that helps use space, but also doesn't seem not important enough to be in the users face 24/7. Right now, I have the ratings of the course. Is this smart? Do users want to be reminded of the ratings? What if the ratings suck? What should be in this sticky nav?

EDIT @Andrew Martin

I just realized I'm misusing terms. A sticky nav is a nav that gets smaller, not created on scroll. This is a nav that is created, not shortened. I actually have a total of three navigations, but only one is fixed. The first one will contain my logo, search bar and user details. The second nav contains info on different course categories:

#2 Visual Aid

The below image shows the sticky nav and the other elements of the surrounding webpage.

Visual Aid

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  • What about branding and basic navigation? These are probably more important that the ratings. May 26, 2016 at 15:41
  • I like the idea of a logo being in the sticky nav. Navigation may not work because the page is so small that you can often see all the content in one scroll...
    – Jack Man
    May 26, 2016 at 15:49
  • But you still need a page/modal to manage the wishlist, there will undoubtedly be general hygiene links (legal requirements, privacy statement, sitemap, etc), an account page to see what courses you're enrolled on, and some sort of menu to view and choose other courses... where does all that stuff go? If this is a single then why isn't the course title in the header? May 26, 2016 at 15:54
  • This is not a single page. The website is very dynamic and contains many courses. I don't want to put boring links into the sticky nav. Users don't need to see a link to our privacy policy while they browse for a course. I only want content related to that particular course in the sticky nav, not links related to the company in general...
    – Jack Man
    May 26, 2016 at 15:57
  • In that case how do you expect your users to be able to browse the rest of the site? They need navigation links and they expect to find them in the header - OK so you don't want to put the hygiene stuff up there but they will still want to see the list of courses, be able to contact the course provider, monitor their account... May 26, 2016 at 16:00

1 Answer 1

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Based on my understanding of how your sticky nav works, the amount of elements you have is fine for several reasons.

  1. It already meets the speedy needs of most of your visitors.

After looking at Nielsen Norman Group's 5 Types of E-Commerce Shoppers, your site visitors are likely:

  • Product Focused (going in already knowing what they want to purchase)
  • Browsers (want to find new and interesting things)
  • Researchers (collecting info about products)

Browsers (and Researchers) are already going to take their time. Product Focused will care about the speed to find the Take Course button and price. Researchers will care about all 4 elements, especially quick navigation to the reviews (assuming clicking the rating takes you to an expanded review list).

  1. More options complicates your mobile experience. (Sticky Menus Are Quicker To Navigate - Mobile Compatibility)

Have you considered what your site will look and function like on mobile? You may end up hiding your sticky nav or simplifying it to just show the Take Course button, price and Wish List button due to space.

I wouldn't worry about ratings. I couldn't find data on this at this time but people do read reviews, regardless if the rating is high or low (e.g. "This course looks interesting so why does it have a low rating?"). A user could dismiss a low or high rating if they find the review not applicable to themselves or their needs (e.g. A 1 Star review says "This course is way too short" but the user prefers a shorter course). Reviews are also a way to build trust with the Researchers and other visitor types.


I feel I should mention that my research continued pointing out sticky navs are great for navigation, not just simply keeping the "most important" buttons visible. While it isn't wrong to put call-to-actions, search bars or other interactive elements in them, consider if you're site could be better if that sticky nav could help navigate to different areas of the page, if applicable.

And when considering how your site will use your three nav bars, make sure they don't compete with each other. You may need to condense, remove or combine them.

For a competitive comparison, take a look at this course page from a competitor, Coursera, and their home page. They utilize sticky navigation as well.

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