Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design experts. We work with companies and businesses around Manchester, and the North West, to provide top quality web design solutions, and stunning websites that can help your business grow. As part of this, we stay up to date with the latest developments and research surrounding web design, and web styles. This includes navigation menus, and systems. The hamburger menu is one such navigation system. And it’s also highly contentious. While for some designers, the hamburger menu is the perfect option for a simple, minimalist design, for others, its a costly piece of unnecessary interaction. As a result, we have produced this guide to the advantages of the hamburger menu in web design.
Advantages of the hamburger menu in web design
The hamburger menu, shown visually as three horizontal lines, stacked like a burger (like this ☰), has become a universally recognized symbol. Simply by clicking the hamburger icon, the website menu will be shown. So what are the advantages of using this icon, and technique? Well, there are several, including:
- simplicity
- effective mobile design
- additional space
Simplicity
Modern web design is all about the user experience. And providing a browsing experience that is clear, concise, and very visual. A cluttered screen is the epitome of disaster for most companies. As users become distracted, and overwhelmed by the amount of information. So, by hiding the navigation bar behind a hamburger menu, you can keep your landing page clear and uncluttered. And as the symbol is universally recognized, your users won’t have a problem finding it.
However, by moving the navigation bar off the screen, accessed by a button, potential customers that land on your website looking for something in particular, might miss out on the opportunities you can offer. This is always worth considering when deciding to use a hamburger menu. As you will need to make sure it is clear and obvious, to prevent these missed opportunities.
Effective mobile design
In addition, one of the biggest advantages of the hamburger menu in web design, is that it is the perfect tool for mobile web design. As all websites now need to be responsive, to fit Google’s Mobile First Ranking Algorithm, it can be a great idea to use a hamburger menu. This means that less of your web design will change when users change device. And by using the hamburger menu, you can reduce the amount of information on the screen at once. Which makes it perfect for smaller screen sizes.
Additional space
Finally, without a navigation bar taking up valuable room at the top of your page, you have prime space to really target your potential customers. Offers, deals and quality information can take up the space instead, and this can really improve your websites performance. Because this space is always above the fold, it can be the first thing that users see. And this can be used to persuade them to stay on your website, and browse your site more thoroughly.
For more information or professional web design support, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.