Optimizing navigation menus for mobile devices
I have deliberately referred to "mobile devices" in the title of this section, and not to "small screens". This is because navigation isn't just about the layout and the size of our menus, but also about the interface. Specifically, for many smartphones, it's about touch. Before we take any action, let's have a look first at what we need to consider when optimizing our navigation for smaller screens and for touch-enabled devices.
There are four main reasons for changing the way menus work on mobile devices as follows:
Design: The existing menu may not fit or look tidy in the layout, and may need some simple design tweaks to improve on this. Or, we may decide to move our menu if it's taking up too much space at the top of the screen on mobile phones.
Navigation: On some sites, users may need access to different parts of the site on mobile devices, or they may need to be able to find some content more easily. While I don't advocate hiding any of...
