We don't have dropdown menus with Rocketspark and there are a few reasons for that:
- For non-savvy visitors, drop down menus can be awkward and frustrating to use
- They don’t work so well on touch-screen devices as you can’t hover your mouse over it
- The more pages you have in your menu structure, the harder it is for visitors to quickly scan for the information they are looking for.
- If they’ve moved their mouse over the menu item they might have decided to click on that menu item. Presenting them with a drop down can be disorientating.
However research shows that in E-commerce mega drop down menus can be beneficial in directing customers around a website. These are a custom development, contact us at Rocketspark if you are interested and we can quote you on one.
So what do we recommend instead – that’s better?
Option 1:
Use buttons and visual calls to action on your pages to draw visitors deeper into the site without needing to use the main menu to be able to find every page on your site.
Option 2:
Group related information on the same page under clear headings rather than putting each piece of content on a separate page. If someone comes to your “About” page to find where you’re located, they might also be interested in your company profile or who your staff are. Don’t be afraid of making pages a little longer. Scrolling is a really comfortable action for even the least savvy visitors. Just make sure the headings are clear, regular and descriptive to draw visitors down the page - most visitors scan headings rather than reading paragraphs. Sticky menus are another option for improving long pages, read more about sticky menus below the examples.
Sticky menus - the best option for navigating long pages
As we’ve stated above, we believe related content is made to be on the same page. However, navigating long pages can be a little cumbersome. The sticky menu is a great solution which gives you a sub menu near the top of the page. As you scroll, it stays stuck at the top of the window and as you scroll past each section on the page, it highlights which section you’ve scrolled to. You can also click on any of the options in the sticky menu and it will smoothly slide you to that specific section.
Here is an example of a sticky menu:
http://www.accounted4.co.nz/page/About_Us/
Sticky menus are an optional extra feature and require some design customisation to best work with your site. Contact us if you would like a quote on getting a sticky menu set up on your website.
Custom drop down menu
We can also create a bespoke drop down options as a paid custom project.
www.leven.co.nz has a mega dropdown menu which pulls in categories from the shop.
www.hasanz.org.nz/page/conference/ has a sub menu built into the page.
Drop down menus are an optional extra feature and require some design customisation to best work with your site. Contact us if you would like a quote on getting a sticky menu set up on your website.