One of the staple things present in the Internet is the hyperlink. The Web will not be a web at all if web pages stopped linking from one to another. This links make the Web work. Therefore, it does make sense to design the links and navigational system before launching the same in the Internet. However, it is not always so easy. There are times when changes occur in the information architecture phase of the website. This makes us fall back into the tested and tried design patterns for the navigation. The best thing in achieving the best website design is the fact that there are innumerable options available for us. Yet we still adhere to the predefined navigational solutions. For the small business websites, a simple top horizontal navigational bar is sufficient and the typical choice. For the bigger websites, there are thousands of pages to connect to and we include a vertical navigation bar thinking it will suffice and provide many opportunities to include links. In other websites, there is the drop down menus or fly outs that will keep the navigation compact. It is easy to understand why designers choose these available options. One of the reasons is that they are forced to conform to them because of the early limits in website design. This made the users expect this navigation, making us hesitant to think new ways in construction navigation. Even if the user’s perspective is not considered, there are designers who think designing intuitive solutions is a waste of time especially when old hackneyed solutions work. Web design has been rapidly growing and evolving. They are now easier to use, and more appeasing to the eye. They are rich in features and are optimized better. Throughout these changes, the standard navigation remained the same. The exception was in Flash based websites that introduced the new navigation systems. There are plenty of reasons that avoid going back to the Flash websites. This can range from performance, SEO, web accessibility and others. However, the thing to be taken is the new and intuitive navigational design. The web browsers accepted the CSS3 and HTML5 and the broadened the design opportunities further. The CSS3 is noted in responsive web designs and thereby transformed the navigation menu layout according to the display of the device. This was achieved with media queries. Changing something for the sake of change is not a good excuse. The change in design and layout of navigation systems should be approached by understanding the issues with navigation and the recent trends. This should be addressed with the available technologies. The bigger doubts lay in where will the navigation be located, its cost, and other feedbacks. CSS can do some downright exciting things these days and it’s in the nature of many designers to experiment and push the boundaries of innovation. With shapes, and the ability to animate them, we have the building blocks to create flexible and imaginative interfaces. There cannot be many twists in navigation. The computers, stereos, devices and even our keyboards come in varying shapes and sizes to implement interaction. Designers should be taking the time and consideration to explore all of the constraints each project comes with and working out individualized and ideal solutions. This will help in completing the best website design. Author Bio: The author thinks that the best website design will have superior navigation. To know more about the recent design trends, visit brandmantra.net
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