Having addressed the information architecture 1 and the various systems 2 of navigation in the first two articles of this series, the last step is to efficiently simplify the navigation experience — specifically, by carefully designing interaction with the navigation menu. When designing interaction with any type of navigation menu, we have to consider the following six aspects: symbols, target areas, interaction event, layout, levels, functional context. It is possible to design these aspects in different ways. Designers often experiment with new techniques 3 to create a more exciting navigation experience. And looking for new, more engaging solutions is a very good thing. However, most users just want to get to the content with as little fuss as possible. For those users, designing the aforementioned aspects to be as simple, predictable and comfortable as possible is important. Symbols Users often rely on small visual clues, such as icons and symbols, to guide them through a website’s interface
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