Hyperlink is the fundamental part of internet since the time it came in the world. Web is given the name of web because it works on links, linking one page from the other. Links are what makes a web work so common sense implies that if we want to make our website work, we will have to put our efforts in designing the blog navigation system and the links. However, this does not always happen. To make everything work sooner, designers fall back upon those few tried and tested ways which has always been used for designing site navigation.
The Present Situation of Site Navigation:
The best thing about web designing is the innumerable options available to the designers. However, to save time and efforts, people still prefer to use the performed solutions for website navigation.
For sites that are working on a small level and which are more of a personal thing can work with a simple navigation bar towards the top of the page. For website which has more links of different pages, designers usually use a vertical option of navigation menu to give all the options of the linking websites on the page. Navigation bars are also designed in the form of a drop down menu to make the page look more compact.
Coming to think of it, we know now why we settle down for these pre-defined styles as these are the ones coming down from the early times of designing while there were still limited options. And continuing the pattern, it became a status quo for the users. And because of this, we have also put a limit on our thinking to take up any different system of website navigation. The basic thinking of a designer is to not be bothered about putting efforts in creating something new when he could easily make use of the pre-defined navigation designs without a hassle.
But the question that comes in mind after all this is whether using the conventional system of designing website navigation is still the optimal solution.
The Evolving Nature of Web Design:
Design world has a natural ability to evolve at a rapid speed, absorbing advanced and more user friendly features in it and incorporating aspects that are more pleasing for a designer to experience. It is a beneficial aspect for designers who want to experience something different with every new design and especially who want to break the status quo of designing in the usual, conventional way.
However, through all the changes, the styles of designing have remained conventional with the exception of the Flash-based websites as it introduced some styles which were unique and distinctive. And while it’s time that we move forward from these Flash-based website designing ways, it is always a good option to take inspiration from what uniqueness this feature introduced and how it can form basis for a particular style of navigation.
Opportunities for designers have increased to huge extents because of the modern features like CSS3 and HTML5 and that has given us a reason not to go back to the days of Flash-based websites. We can create impressive website navigation using these newest features as we have seen examples of CSS3, transforming the user’s menu layout according to the size of the display.
Have a Purpose for Change:
Adopting a change just for the sake of changing is inappropriate. Just because we now have tools and newer features, we should take them up. Taking up a change without a purpose is efforts gone to waste. For a change to work well and reap some good, you have to define a purpose. There are a lot of website navigation styles that are getting popular; however, you should take them up only after you are sure of its usability and all the pros and cons that it might hold. Make use of them only after analyzing how a change would do well and incorporating it accordingly.
Once decided, the matters such as the location of navigation, the extent of its expanse and its usability arises. The question of how practical and flexible the website navigations would be arises on this basis.
The New Face of Blog Navigation:
It is in the professional nature of web designers to experiment with new stuff and in the process, they come up with amazing creative stuff. They know how far the boundaries of innovation can be pushed and they push it to its limit, coming up with something brilliant is their job. Since the time CSS has come out, designers have found ways to come up with something extraordinary with it.
Famous web developers and bloggers have shown that with the use of CSS, designers can use shapes to create brilliant images and can animated effects to the images. All these possibilities give ideas to designers of how vast the prospects are and what lies on the horizon. And it is not a lengthy process to check the results practically and to check their adaptability as it only takes a short time for a professional to trial and test. And as mentioned above, if designers have shapes and know how to animate images, they can create wonders for website navigation with it.
Taking Offline Inspiration:
If talking about inspirations, we can take it from our near surroundings and from objects that a normal mind cannot think of. For a designer who wants to see how intricate the world of website navigation is, he can observe it from the keyboard that sits in front of him. Have you ever thought why a space bar on your keyboard is the biggest one? Not many people get to ponder upon it. It’s not because it has the most characters, it is the biggest because it is used the most.
Other examples one can see from computers, vehicles, electronic appliances and other gadgets where an object is built up with a number of shapes, colors and sizes to build an interaction. Similarly, the stereo in our car or remote controls have buttons and other user interface features in arrays, shapes and sizes that signifies the importance of their function. A designer holds the ability to take inspiration from such seemingly trivial objects and incorporate it in his web design to create a website navigation that is user friendly, gives an attractive look to the user interface and also is flexible to develop.
Consistency is another thing which is important in blog navigation and one which is aimed to look impressive.
Wrapping Up:
The main thing that I intended to communicate to you through all this is to take advantage of the new opportunities that comes your way. These are the times when we can use new opportunities in the best possible ways and come up with innovative ideas for creating website navigation systems. Features like CSS3 have allowed designers to adopt a number of ways through which they can design blog navigation by offering them a number of design styles.
It’s time that designers start to think out of the box and incorporate innovative features in their work to come up with patterns of blog navigation that can make the popularity of their website soar high.
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