Click on this graph to see a lightbox of all best practices in this post

Five Websites are setting the pace

It’s interesting how something starts to hit a tipping point on the IT Web. Mega-menus are one of these designs – and fat footers aren’t far behind them.

In the mega-menu race, there are two main strategies in play, and some good and best practices worth considering.

On the strategy side, we have two basic approaches in evidence these days: mega-menus targeted at straight navigation – and those that add product marketing, corporate marketing and call to action dimensions.  In every case, there are great examples of both approaches on the IT Web.  Here’s some places to start:

  • Novell.com mega menuNovell.com delivers a great basic mega-menu and is a “must see” for teams considering this approach;
  • EMC.com, Brocade.com, and Novell.com are upping the mega-menu ante with great call to action behaviors — and Brocade.com gets extra credit for some very savvy registration behaviors.
  • Juniper.net has ushered in the era of mega-menus as a marketing medium. Look for more of this behavior from other leading sites in 2010.
  • Don’t bother to follow Microsoft.com. Among the sites we reviewed, it is the least interesting or innovative.
  • Dell.com currently has the best designed and most effective fat footer in the industry. Although there are 3 other major sites that use this technique, the one to watch is Dell.com.

Brocade.com mega menu productI’ve just posted a new executive brief with more analysis about how Dell.com, Novell.com, Brocade.com, Juniper.net, HP.com, Insight.com, NewEgg.com, and EMC.com are setting the pace in these two new advanced navigation categories, plus plenty of screen shots of best practice examples.

Since nothing is ever as easy as it looks, I’ve shared 11 rules Web teams should consider before designing and executing these advanced navigation techniques. This brief is available to siteIQ clients in the siteIntelligence Research Center. siteIQ clients can access this review here.

So what do you think of mega-menus and fat footers? Sound off in the comments area below.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,