40+ Website Navigation Examples that Follow the Best Practices

Looking for website navigation examples? You’re in the right place! In this article, we’ll explore various types of navigation that can enhance user experience and help visitors find what they need quickly. Let’s dive into the different types of navigation we’ll be covering and the best practices associated with each one:

We’ll cover each type of navigation, showcasing examples and highlighting the best practices associated with each one. From the classic top horizontal navigation menu to the convenient dropdown navigation menu, and the space-saving vertical side navigation bar, we’ll delve into their effectiveness.

Additionally, we’ll discuss the benefits of footer menus, the navigational aid of breadcrumbs, and the popular hamburger menu. Get ready to learn and implement these valuable insights to create seamless and user-friendly website navigation.

 

Let’s start with the fullscreen overlay menu. This popular type of navigation provides a distinctive navigation approach where the entire screen is utilized to display the menu options. When activated, the full-screen menu covers the entire page, offering a visually immersive and comprehensive navigation experience.

Full-screen navigation menus are a suitable choice for various cases and types of websites:

• Creative Portfolios and Showcase Websites: Full-page navigation menus can create an immersive browsing experience, particularly for creative portfolios, showcasing various works or projects.
• Single-Page Websites: Websites with a single-page layout, such as landing pages or event websites, can benefit from a full-page navigation menu to provide a concise and focused menu without redirecting users to separate pages.
• Minimalist Designs: Full-page menus can complement minimalist website designs by maintaining a clean and uncluttered visual aesthetic while offering an expansive navigation option.

To optimize your full-screen navigation menu, consider the following best practices:

Let’s head to a collection of modern full-screen navigation menu examples to gain inspiration and insights into how leading websites create immersive and engaging navigation experiences.

 

LVMH Prize Full-Screen Transparent Overlay Navigation

The LVMH Prize is highly regarded in the fashion industry and recognizes young designers with exceptional talent and creativity. The LVMH website features a full-screen menu with dropdown options for each year’s winner. This beautiful overlay menu remains transparent, allowing users to see their current page while navigating through the menu.

 

Curious & Company Artistic About Me Page Navigation

Curious & Company proudly proclaims itself as “The World’s first creative agency to unlock the power of the mind and harness the mysteries of the stars!” This unique approach is reflected in their website’s creative and highly interactive design. Specifically, they have incorporated a sub-navigation menu for easy access to the About page.

 

Namesak3 Interactive Futuristic Full-Screen Menu

Namesak3 is an eCommerce platform that caters to Taiwanese labels. Their website boasts a futuristic design that showcases impressive design skills, particularly in the realm of full-screen interactive navigation.

 

Uhaina Colorful Website Full-Screen Menu

The website of Uhaina, a craft brewery brand under the Ogeu group, features a vibrant and visually captivating full-screen menu. The menu design is rich and colorful, adding to the overall aesthetic appeal of the website.

 

HTM Functional Well-structured Full-Screen Menu

HTM, a trusted partner for specialized flight operations for over 20 years, prioritizes functionality over design on its corporate website. As a result, the website features a full-screen global navigation that provides easy access to all the site links. The emphasis is placed on ensuring smooth and efficient navigation for visitors.

 

A top horizontal navigation menu is a common type of website navigation positioned horizontally at the top of a webpage. It features a menu bar with links that enable users to navigate different sections or pages easily. This prominent and accessible navigation element enhances user experience by facilitating quick access to the desired content.

Top horizontal navigation menus are suitable for various websites, including:

• Large Websites: They provide a consistent and organized way to explore multiple sections or content areas.
• E-commerce Websites: They categorize products, allowing effortless browsing of different product categories.
• Content-Rich Websites: They help users navigate to various articles, sections, or topics of interest.

Consider these best practices when designing a top horizontal navigation menu:

Now, let’s see a  couple of top menu navigation examples showcasing effective design and usability. We’ll see how leading websites create seamless and intuitive user experiences with top horizontal navigation menus.

 

M&Csaatchi Abel Top Horizontal Navigation

M&Csaatchi Abel, a strategic advertising, marketing, and communications consultancy, presents a branding home that exudes class and professionalism while maintaining a modern touch. The website features a top horizontal main navigation that showcases a delightful hover animation, adding an elegant touch to the overall design.

 

Municipal Top Sub Menu Categories

In the process of redesigning the eCommerce website for Municipal, a mobile-first approach is adopted. The website incorporates a hamburger menu for comprehensive navigation options. However, to provide users with even quicker access to apparel products, top horizontal navigation is implemented. This combination of navigation elements ensures a seamless and efficient user experience on mobile devices.

 

Lupo Top Left Main Navigation

Lupo Pizza, a French street food franchise renowned for reinventing pizza, sets itself apart with a unique website experience that embodies the brand’s atmosphere. The website features custom hand-drawn illustrations in a street graffiti style, creating an immersive and distinctive visual identity. The top menu, situated in the top left corner, provides comprehensive options for easy navigation. Additionally, the website incorporates cool hover animations, enhancing the overall interactive experience for visitors.

 

Instrument Top Horizontal Menu

Instrument, a digital marketing, branding, and product experiences agency, has recently undergone a rebranding process along with a website redesign. The website now showcases a refreshed look and feel. The main navigation is prominently located at the top of the page, providing easy accessibility to all essential links. This strategic placement ensures that visitors can effortlessly navigate through the website and access important information.

 

Mitsubishi Motors SA Top Navigation

Mitsubishi Motors’ website has undergone a thorough revamp, rejuvenating the brand’s local presence and aligning it with international UX standards. The focus of this revamp was to deliver a seamless and delightful user experience. As a complex and content-rich website, it utilizes a top horizontal menu and a sub-navigation of the same type to efficiently organize and present its links. This design ensures that all content and sections are easily accessible to users, enabling smooth navigation throughout the website.

 

Next, we have the dropdown navigation menu. This type of website navigation presents a hierarchical structure of links or labels. When users hover or click on a main menu item, a dropdown menu appears, displaying subcategories or additional navigation options. This dynamic and space-saving navigation style improves user experience by providing a clear and organized pathway for users to explore a website’s content.

Dropdown navigation menus are particularly suitable for the following cases and types of websites:

• Complex Websites: Websites with a large number of pages or diverse sections can benefit from dropdown menus to categorize and subdivide content effectively.
• eCommerce Websites: They enable the categorization of products into various subcategories, allowing users to navigate through specific product lines effortlessly.
• Multi-Level Menus: Dropdown menus are ideal for websites that require multiple levels of navigation, providing a convenient way to display hierarchical links.

Consider following these practices when structuring and designing a dropdown navigation menu:

Here are some modern dropdown navigation menu examples from live websites that demonstrate the best practices.

 

Sjöstrand Coffee Eye-Catching Dropdown Menu

Sjöstrand Coffee, renowned for its craftsmanship and iconic espresso machines, has recently re-platformed and redesigned its website from WooCommerce to Shopify. The new website features a stunning top menu main navigation that is exquisitely designed, incorporating dropdown functionality for subcategories. The use of beautiful fonts and captivating photography further enhances the visual appeal of the website.

 

Brandon Blackwood Overlay Dropdown Navigation

In the reimagined project for Brandon Blackwood‘s Shopify Plus storefront and UX experience, the goal is to create a versatile shopping destination and an engagement hub for modern consumers. The website’s navigation is thoughtfully designed, and neatly packed at the top of the page. The use of big dropdown menus ensures that users can easily find the desired links without any distractions. This streamlined approach enhances the overall user experience, allowing for seamless navigation and efficient browsing.

 

Tennis 128 Classic Dropdown Menu

Tennis 128 is a website template designed specifically for tennis clubs, built on the Webflow platform. This template showcases various features such as client testimonials, pricing information, packages, and seamless online booking capabilities. The website incorporates large dropdown menus with semi-transparent backgrounds, allowing for a visually appealing and user-friendly navigation experience.

 

Karl Tatler Estate Agents Corporate Dropdown Navigation

Karl Tatler, the leading estate agent in Wirral, has embraced a headless website approach. Their website boasts a range of impressive features, including a robust property search function, seamless integration with Reapit CRM for efficient management, and a bank of flexible components to enhance customization. The classic corporate style is reflected in the top navigation, featuring a dropdown menu that ensures easy access to different sections of the website.

 

Ace Theme WP Dropdown Mega-Menu

Ace is a versatile and responsive WordPress theme that is suitable for various purposes. One of its standout features is the rich top mega-menu navigation, which includes dropdown functionality for subcategories. This makes it particularly well-suited for content-heavy websites, providing a structured and organized appearance while enhancing the overall user experience.

 

 

The next one is often associated with retro websites so it’s rare to see it in common websites unless we talk about dashboards or secondary menus to big eCommerce websites. Of course, this is the sidebar, also known as a vertical side navigation bar menu. This is a website navigation style positioned vertically on the side of a webpage. It typically displays a list of links or icons that allow users to navigate different sections or pages. This navigation approach optimizes space and provides a convenient and easily accessible menu structure for users to explore a website’s content.

Vertical side navigation bars are particularly suitable for the following cases and types of websites:

• Content-Rich Websites: Websites that prioritize content, such as blogs or news portals, can effectively organize and categorize their articles or topics using a vertical side navigation bar.
• Dashboards and Admin Interfaces: Vertical side navigation menus provide a compact and efficient way to navigate various features and sections within a dashboard or admin interface.
• Long-Scrolling Websites: They can be used to maintain consistent navigation options throughout a long-scrolling webpage, ensuring easy access to different sections.

Consider these best practices when designing a vertical side navigation bar menu:

Now, let’s explore some vertical side navigation bar menu examples done right.

 

C2 Montréal Creative Tab Bar on the Right

C2 Montréal stands as Canada’s foremost creative-business event, attracting the world’s most innovative minds to Montreal annually. The event’s website incorporates a Single-Page Application (SPA) functionality, allowing for seamless and uninterrupted browsing. Notably, the website features a creative sidebar on the right side of the screen, providing easy access to all pages and enhancing navigation convenience for users.

 

Mars Branding Accordion Navigation

Mars Branding showcases a modern and minimalistic website design that captivates attention. One of its notable features is the intriguing navigation style. On the homepage, each page is neatly packed on the side and expands when clicked, revealing its content. This interactive approach to navigation adds an element of curiosity and engages users in exploring the different pages of the website.

 

Consumatori Sidebar Navigation with Icons

Italy’s first consumer protection association, Consumatori, has undergone a significant website transformation. As part of this change, the website now features a revamped appearance. Notably, cool sidebar navigation has been implemented, showcasing custom icons that represent each link. This visually appealing sidebar enhances the user experience by providing intuitive navigation options and adding a touch of creativity to the website.

 

Arbor Restaurant Rich Multi-Level Sidebar Menu

Arbor Restaurant adopts a sidebar navigation approach on its website, featuring expandable subcategories. This design choice allows users to easily navigate through different sections and explore specific subcategories by expanding them within the sidebar. The expandable subcategories enhance the usability and organization of the website, enabling visitors to find the desired information or menu items with ease.

 

William LaChance Classic Sidebar

William LaChance‘s artwork is a fusion of displaced forms and colors inspired by graphic design, fashion, art history, and the natural world. His creative process involves using diverse methods and materials such as painting, printmaking, assemblage, and sewing. To provide convenient access to information about events, exhibitions, and his work, the website employs a left sidebar that neatly packs all the relevant links. This layout ensures easy navigation for visitors, allowing them to explore and engage with William LaChance’s artistic endeavors.

 

 

A footer menu refers to a navigation element placed at the bottom (footer) of a webpage. It typically consists of links or labels that allow users to navigate to different sections or pages of a website. The footer menu provides a convenient and accessible way to access essential links and information, enhancing the overall user experience.

Footer menus are suitable for most types of websites, including:

• Content-Heavy Websites: Websites with a substantial amount of content and many pages often utilize a footer menu. It serves as a global footer navigation that arranges all pages into categories, similar to a website map. This enables users to navigate through the website’s various sections and find specific pages more easily.

When designing a footer menu, consider the following best practices:

Now, let’s see some recent examples showcasing how different websites implement footer navigation.

 

Kinsta Sitemap Footer

MyKinsta offers a single, intuitive dashboard for the seamless deployment, hosting, and management of web projects. The website’s sitemap is meticulously organized into categories, creating a well-structured and user-friendly experience. This comprehensive organization of the sitemap is prominently featured in a large full-page footer, allowing users to easily navigate through different sections and access the desired information or features with convenience.

 

Eva Lendel Minimalistic Footer Menu

Eva Lendel, a prominent brand specializing in bridal gowns, continually introduces new and exclusive elements to the world of wedding fashion. The website’s footer design follows a minimalistic and luxurious approach, encompassing all brand collections and providing helpful links. This thoughtfully designed footer section ensures that visitors can explore the various collections and easily access essential information or assistance, enhancing their overall browsing experience.

 

Patagonia Full-Screen Footer Navigation

Established by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an American clothing company renowned for its outdoor apparel. Apart from its clothing line, the company places a strong emphasis on climate change-related activism. In the website’s footer section, you will find additional links that are not present in the main navigation, offering comprehensive access to various sections of the website. Additionally, the footer includes a sitemap, providing a complete overview of the website’s structure and content. This approach ensures that users can easily navigate the site, discover relevant information, and explore all that Patagonia has to offer.

 

Hogi Big Modern Footer with Essential Links

Hogi is a captivating digital agency that boasts an intriguing branding concept. The word “hogi” holds a significant meaning in Armenian, representing the essence of “soul.” The naming of the agency is inspired by a well-known Armenian expression that encapsulates the idea of dedicating one’s soul to something. Reflecting this spirit, the website exhibits a remarkable atmosphere with a high-tech vibe, featuring top-notch visuals and custom design elements.

In terms of navigation, the website excels with its well-organized structure. The entire sitemap is neatly arranged into categories, offering a comprehensive overview of the website’s content and features. This user-friendly approach is showcased through a full-page footer, allowing visitors to easily explore different sections and access the desired information. Overall, Hogi presents a captivating online presence that combines aesthetics, technology, and a well-structured user experience.

 

Reforestum Classic Footer Menu

Reforestum is driven by a mission to combat climate change by connecting and empowering individuals and organizations to protect and restore forest ecosystems. Their goal is to create a safer, healthier, and more equitable future for current and future generations. In the website’s footer navigation, you can conveniently access their full manifesto, explore their blog for informative content, and find additional resources related to their cause. This well-organized footer navigation ensures that visitors can easily delve into the depth of Reforestum’s mission, gain knowledge through their blog, and access valuable resources for further engagement.

 

In the meantime, you can also check out the full guide of the best practices for designing a website footer with many examples from live websites.

 

Breadcrumbs navigation refers to a hierarchical set of links that show users the path they have taken to arrive at a specific page on a website. It typically appears near the top of a webpage and provides a visual representation of the user’s navigation trail. Breadcrumbs navigation enhances user orientation, allowing them to understand their location within the website’s structure and easily backtrack if needed.

Breadcrumbs navigation is a suitable choice for the following cases and types of websites:

• Large Websites with Multiple Sections: Websites with a complex structure or a large number of pages can benefit from breadcrumbs to provide clear navigation pathways and help users find their way back to higher-level sections.
• eCommerce Websites: Breadcrumbs can assist users in tracking their browsing history within product categories or subcategories, facilitating seamless navigation through the website’s product catalog.
• Content-Rich Websites with Hierarchical Organization: Websites with deep content hierarchies, such as educational platforms or documentation websites, can utilize breadcrumbs to indicate the hierarchical relationships between pages.

To optimize the usability of breadcrumbs navigation, consider the following best practices:

Back to some excellent breadcrumbs navigation examples showcasing effective design and usability.

 

Apple Product Categories Breadcrumbs

Apple effectively utilizes breadcrumbs in its product selling strategy. When navigating through their website, regardless of the product category chosen from the main navigation, the subsequent page presents a sub-navigation menu displaying all related products within that specific category. This implementation of breadcrumbs allows users to easily explore and discover additional products within the same product line or category, enhancing their overall shopping experience and providing a seamless flow between product selections.

 

Lacoste Location-based Breadcrumbs

Lacoste‘s classic eCommerce store incorporates breadcrumbs navigation to enhance user browsing and make it easier for them to find the desired products. By displaying a breadcrumb trail, users can visually track their location within the website’s hierarchy, indicating the categories and subcategories they have navigated through. This navigation feature enables users to backtrack or move directly to specific sections, facilitating a smooth and efficient shopping experience on the Lacoste website.

 

Nate Gagnon OS Style Breadcrumbs Menu

Nate Gagnon‘s portfolio site has been meticulously designed to emulate a native operating system experience on both desktop and mobile devices. The website serves as a showcase for Nate’s work and new ventures. One standout feature is the OS menu, which exemplifies breadcrumbs navigation. This navigation style allows users to easily navigate through different sections and track their progress within the website. By incorporating breadcrumbs into the OS menu, visitors can effortlessly explore Nate Gagnon’s portfolio and seamlessly delve into his various endeavors and projects.

 

Sephora eCommerce Breadcrumbs Navigation

Sephora, a well-known eCommerce website, exemplifies the use of a well-structured product hierarchy and breadcrumbs navigation. The website is carefully organized, ensuring that products are categorized and grouped logically. This hierarchical arrangement allows users to easily navigate through different product categories and subcategories, enabling a smooth and intuitive shopping experience.

 

Rei Mega-Menu and Breadcrumbs

REI, the outdoor activity apparel shop, optimizes user navigation with a well-designed mega menu that includes subcategories. The mega menu offers an extensive list of subcategories within the main navigation, providing users with immediate access to specific product lines or outdoor activities.

To further enhance user orientation, REI implements breadcrumbs navigation throughout the website.

 

 

A hamburger menu, also known as a mobile menu or hidden menu, is an icon consisting of three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other, resembling a hamburger. It is a popular navigation pattern used to hide menu options and conserve screen space, particularly on mobile devices and responsive websites. When clicked or tapped, the hamburger menu expands to reveal a list of navigation options.

Hamburger menus are a suitable choice for the following cases and types of websites:

• Mobile Menus: Hamburger menus provide a compact and efficient way to present navigation options on small screens, allowing users to access the menu easily without cluttering the interface.
• Responsive Websites: They are ideal for websites that need to adapt to different screen sizes, as the hamburger menu simplifies navigation and preserves valuable space on various devices.
• Mobile Apps: Hamburger menus are commonly used in mobile app interfaces to hide secondary navigation options and provide a clean and unobtrusive user experience.

To optimize the usability of a hamburger menu, consider the following best practices:

Now, let’s head straight to the examples of well-designed hamburger menus in action. Browse our collection and discover how leading websites and mobile apps leverage hamburger menus to streamline navigation experiences.

 

Times Two App-Style Hamburger Menu

Times Two is a collaborative design practice, that presents a unique and stylish approach to their website’s navigation. Their website features a cool hamburger menu with a twist: it is positioned at the bottom center, resembling the layout of a mobile app. When activated, the hamburger menu smoothly expands upwards with a sleek animation, revealing all the internal links and providing easy access to various sections of the website. This distinctive design choice adds a touch of creativity to the user experience, making navigation intuitive and visually engaging.

 

HAFH Classic Hamburger Manu

HAFH is a discovery platform for modern travelers. The website incorporates a classic hamburger menu into its website design. The hamburger menu icon is conveniently located at the top right corner of the page, providing users with easy access to navigation options. When activated, the hamburger menu expands into an overlay menu that overlays the current page content. This overlay menu houses the internal links, allowing users to explore different sections of the website without being redirected to a new page.

 

Victor Adeniji hamburger Menu Transition

Victor Adeniji‘s portfolio showcases his expertise as a digital designer and front-end developer, with a specialization in creating interactive websites. On his portfolio website, the hamburger menu is distinctively positioned on the bottom bar of the page. When activated, the hamburger menu expands upwards in an overlay shape, revealing a set of portfolio links.

 

APF Holdings Hamburger Full-Screen Menu Animation

APF Holdings‘s website for the leading Baltic poultry farm is a dynamic and visually captivating platform that showcases ethical farming practices. With intuitive navigation and delightful UI animations, the website offers an engaging user experience. Notably, the website features an animated full-screen hamburger menu, which adds an interactive element to the navigation. When activated, the hamburger menu expands to fill the entire screen, presenting a range of menu options for users to explore. This attention-grabbing design choice enhances the website’s visual appeal and contributes to a seamless browsing experience for visitors.

 

Pexeon Creative Hamburger Menu UI Animation

Pexeon is an Indian multinational software company specializing in experiential products and services that bridge the digital and physical realms. The website boasts a magic menu, flawlessly animated to provide an immersive user journey. When the hamburger menu icon is clicked, the current page elegantly shrinks to create space for the side section. This side section then expands, revealing the menu options and enabling seamless navigation. This animated page transition enhances the visual appeal and interactivity of the website, reflecting Pexeon’s commitment to creating engaging digital solutions.

 

In the meantime, why not check out our comprehensive pocket guide on everything you need to know about hamburger menus? Learn about their benefits, best practices, and how to effectively implement them to enhance user experience.

 

In this section, we’ll delve into a captivating collection of navigation menus that blend various patterns, offering innovative approaches to website navigation. These examples showcase how web designers break free from traditional styles by combining different elements, resulting in unique and engaging navigation experiences.

Hisami Kurita Portfolio Overlay Side Menu

Hisami Kurita’s Portfolio showcases a stunning overlay side menu with exquisite transitions and a captivating depth effect.

 

SK Inc. centered Hamburger Menu

SK Inc. investment agency uses a hamburger menu in the top center that opens like a global dropdown top menu.

 

MIT Museum Full-Screen Top Menu

MIT Museum doesn’t shy away from animations as we can see the beautiful full-screen transition when we click on any of the links from the main top navigation.

 

Ashland University Side Mega-Menu

Next, we have Ashland University with a mega menu that packs all categories and subcategories.

 

Empreinte Creative Cards-Style Menu

Empreinte has very creative navigation in the form of cards that you can click. Each card represents an anchor link and the cards rearrange once it scrolls to section.

 

Human Things Side Tabs Bar Menu

The website of Human Things has SPA functionality and all pages are packed in the archive-style tabs on the left side of the screen.

 

Our Solar System Subnavigation for Animation Trigger Links

Our Solar System uses a classic left sidebar that expands to show the subcategories that trigger the planet animations.

 

The Search for Work Happiness Full Creative Freedom

And last, we have The Search for Work Happiness, an online book that beautifully captures the essence of a Wimmelbilderbuch-style illustrative environment. This interactive experience invites you to explore a vibrant and lively world, filled with color and delightful illustrations. There is a full-screen menu where you can browse the different chapters, and even this one is interactive and visually stunning.

 

 

Feeling motivated and inspired to roll up your sleeves? Awesome. In case you need a web development partner for your current and future projects, here at htmlBurger, we are more than glad to discuss your needs. Wanna talk?

Let’s Wrap It Up!

To sum up, crafting strategic and thoughtful navigation menus is crucial as it directly influences user behavior on your website. According to web design experts, even minor modifications to your menu and overall website can yield significant revenue differences.

To create the most effective web navigation, keep the following tips in mind:

By applying these principles, you can enhance your website’s navigation and create an engaging and user-friendly environment. Remember, even small changes can make a significant impact.

In the meantime, let’s explore more insights and resources on web design and web development by checking out our other articles!

• Modal UI Design in a Nutshell: The Basics, Types of Modals, and Best Practices
• 20 Modern Website Design Examples That Will Blow Your Mind
• 15 Examples of Websites for Apps That Will Inspire Your Design