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Thread: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

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    Senior Member kopite's Avatar
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    Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    Hi all,

    I'm doing a website at the moment and whilst the actual back end stuff is easy enough the front end is always a bit of an issue for me(at work I have designers to make things look pretty )

    I'm a fan of a top menu on sites but on a site I'm working on atm the client wants a side menu. I've always thought side menus where a bit crappy but was wondering on other peoples opinons?

    Cheers

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    Editable... jimbouk's Avatar
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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    With the move towards wide screen monitors on computers then side menus make a lot of sense. My start menu is on the left for example. You'll need a reactive design for mobile devices though, don't want the menu taking up the whole of a portrait phone screen!

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    Golden rule.. find someone else who's already spent loads on the UX and copy what they've learned

    Are there any famous sites in the same area as your client who've done the work? We often like to look at BBC, Amazon etc. and see what they're doing in terms of design - I don't see side menus very much, but I do see faceting on the side quite often.

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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    I'd say it depends on the content of the site. Something that prefers narrow columns like text works great with side menus but if it's heavy with detailed images then the full width is preferable as many are landscape.

    Generally I'd take a side menu over a top one because it typically allows so many more links. Single level with all the information in view is preferable to hunting around in multi-level drop down menus.

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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    I'll tend to have important navigation at the top, side menus I'll use for holding subnavigation within a section or tools like filtering etc.

    I am a fan of the off-canvas side menu on Mobile apps, neat solution to a problem. How big is the site? How much navigation will there be?

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    Senior Member kopite's Avatar
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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    The site is for a cycling club.

    ALthough its a completely different Level I've been looking at the big cycling team sites like Sky and and quick-step and they all favour top level menus.

    PArt of the problem is that one of the people who is part of the club board was a member of another cycling club who's website has a side menu. IMHO it looks really dated whilst the team sky type sites look really modern at least that's my opinion.

    The site is going to be a mix of Text heavy pages, forum and Gallery.

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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    Quote Originally Posted by kopite View Post
    The site is for a cycling club.

    ALthough its a completely different Level I've been looking at the big cycling team sites like Sky and and quick-step and they all favour top level menus.

    PArt of the problem is that one of the people who is part of the club board was a member of another cycling club who's website has a side menu. IMHO it looks really dated whilst the team sky type sites look really modern at least that's my opinion.

    The site is going to be a mix of Text heavy pages, forum and Gallery.
    I feel that pain - going against your better judgement because the guy who pays the bills thinks he knows what's best. I think in that case you'll just have to tell this board member you've consulted professionals, they say that side menus are outdated, don't work well on mobile and tablet devices and make it more difficult than it needs to be to access information. You could even make up some white lies about accessibility and SEO if you can get away with it

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Menu thoughts on a website - Thoughst?

    Quote Originally Posted by kopite View Post
    PArt of the problem is that one of the people who is part of the club board was a member of another cycling club who's website has a side menu.
    That's not really a valid reason to have it IMHO. You could always mock up both designs in balsamiq or whatever and do a quick A:B test with the board or some victims..er volunteers.

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