by Julie Avellino, Director of Strategy @KnockMedia
I like to read Forbes, I find the articles interesting and quite frankly easy reads. I read it 100% online. When I checked it out today to read about the latest list of billionaires and see how many years I had left to amass my fortune and still be included on the Young Billionaires list I was greeted with this:
Without hesitation I began to scroll down. Scrolling just seems easier to me, less effort, instant gratification because that millisecond to wait for content is removed. I can also skim titles much more quickly and decide whether or not to read them in their entirety. I can say, “I read Forbes today” but in reality I read 16 headlines and half of one Forbes article. And I was able to do so with a great sense of satisfaction and completion. I think scrolling when interacting with a site for pleasure appeals much more to me, and yet if I am digging for information, actually doing research for a client project I find that clicking seems much more purposeful. There is a “no stone left unturned” feeling to it. A sense of control.
So you might be wondering, “What type of navigation is best for my site?” When you’re looking at your website navigation design take time to understand what type of content you’re providing to users. Is it light-hearted entertainment content or empirical data that will be served up primarily to academic types? Their navigation needs are extremely different. In addition keep in mind what device users are most likely to be on when accessing your site. Mobile users will navigate differently than desktop users and there are definitely mobile navigation best practices that users will expect to see.
Also, give some thought to what your analytics needs are. If you hope to gather lots of user information, scrolling may make that a bit more difficult because you lose some of the ability to understand and know where you are capturing the users attention.
If you think navigation is hindering how users interact with your site, or would like to consider some new options that will work with your exciting UX design or put some analytics behind your site, contact us at KnockMedia and we can help you understand which approach will work best for you.