Over the last few years, mega drop menus are gaining popularity in the web development and design industry. These drop downs display several links for different sections within a website and enables users to jump straight to categories or sub categories they are searching for, which means that customers can reach relevant pages quickly and easily.

This type of new age menu is ideal for the navigation experience for any user. According to a report by the Huffingtonpost, designers also focus on creating user-friendly navigation while re-designing a website. Below are the benefits of using this menu to ensure abetter navigation experience for your users.

User options are easily visible all the time

One of the biggest benefits of mega menus are that all user options are displayed and visible. It is just like following a map when you visit a museum. With a single glance users can find out the different sections within the site and they can also decide which part they would like to visit.

Chunk of information is displayed all at a single glance

Besides making all sections within a site clearly visible, the other advantage of mega drop down menus is that they help in delivering a chunk of information at one glance. This menu makes information more accessible with this technique. This special design technique is normally used when you have to present tons of information. By grouping associated links into chunks or tiny subsets with links, the links become more manageable, though other web design elements still can remain unchanged.

Smart use of images,icons are used to make information more appealing to users

Since mega menus are developed like mini website pages, the design components of a normal web page are nicely displayed, and can include images or icons. Indeed, an image is an integral part of visual web design and designers are always trying to incorporate smart and relevant pictures for better designing. Modern techniques such as designing of SVG image is incorporated by designers for this purpose.  A common rule of web design is that the text along with images is more appealing to users than text or pictures alone. In this way, you can improve mega menus by placing tiny icons or images near information that you wish to highlight and draw attention to.

Here are a few tips that you can follow to improve the usability of a mega drop drown menu for your website:

Use headings properly

Presenting a large set of links inrelevant sections of a website is one of the major reasons behind using mega drop down menus for a particular website. You can use headings to clump them together and show similar links into related sets for your users.

Insert columns in an appropriate way

Most websites align related sections into columns and also make use of column borders, typically a one pixel column for demarcation.

Showcase all your best products as well as services

Why not help your customers save time by placing your best selling services or products within mega drop down menus?Your users can click their favorite products directly without visiting lengthy traditional menus and then have to locate the appropriate sub-category when locating a product.

Do not make the mega menu too tall

Make sure that you keep the mega menu short.Develop a menu that fits well with the screen size of your monitor.When you make it tall, it may extend off your web page when browsing from a small device such as mobile, tablet etc.

Add shadow or border

Allow your mega menu to stand out from the web page and its content in the best possible way. You can do it by using subtle borders or drop shadows.  If you are using a white menu with the background of the same color, use of borders or shadows is most definitely a must.

Test it in different web browsers

Check if the mega menu works in all the popular browsers. For this purpose,you have to undertake multiple testing on cross-browsers and see if it is navigable for each and every person.

Make use of the full width of the web page

The most effective menus cover the full width of a web page or at least a significant part of it. They allow the website to incorporate clearer headings, supporting pictures as well as promotions for the lucrative offers, discounts and most popular products. It improves usability and helps drive sales.

Use indicators and show interactivity

Down arrows, plus signs or other indicators are used to point out to a user that additional content may be shown by activating navigation.

Learn about the benefits of using mega drop down menus for your website for better navigation for your users. Incorporate some of these essential tips to improve design of mega menus for your own website.

Image courtesy: www.smileycat.com