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Popular UI Navigational Models
When it comes to user experience, navigation is one of the fundamentals that have a direct connection with usability.
Without a good navigation system in place, users will struggle whenever they interact with your website.
That’s why all websites should be designed in a way that allows users to both navigate easily and find what they are looking for through searching and browsing.
As a part of a navigation system there are many types of navigational models used in sites and apps. It is important to understand it’s different kinds in order to choose a suitable one for each situation.
This article discusses some of the most common navigational models(although there are many more) based on O’REILLY’S book Designing Interfaces Patterns for Effective Interaction Design by Jenifer Tidwell, Charler Brewer and Aynne Valencia.
Hub and Spoke
The Hub and Spoke model is a type of website architecture where all pages link to each other and we organize their relationships around a central hub.
It simplifies navigation by keeping all major paths visible at all times summarizing everything available within an app or website.
It’s great for mobile because it makes it easy for users to move between locations without losing their place in the process (like booking a reservation).
Fully Connected
Many websites and mobile applications follow this model. There’s a home page or screen, but it and every other page link to all the others — they each have a global navigation feature, such as a top menu.
The global navigation might be a single level, or it might be complex, with multiple levels and deeply buried content but with complete navigation on every screen.
This is navigation on steroids, with complete navigation on every screen. As long as the user reaches any page from any other with a single jump, it’s fully connected.
