Carousel Navigation: Yay or Nay?

You may have noticed the growing trend of carousel navigation in Web design. This method allows you to display several headlines without cluttering your page. But do users feel comfortable with this technique? Let’s take a look at the different challenges linked to this type of navigation. First, what are the benefits of properly implemented carousel navigation?

• It saves space. It really is the main goal behind it and it accomplishes it well. You can gather several headlines under a singular carousel navigation, thus saving screen real estate.
• It provides a quick overview of all the main stories. Your user can take a quick glance at your main content.
• It draws attention. By displaying bigger images, the user’s attention is focused on the carousel. Plus, we all know an image is worth a thousand words!

Ubisoft has an attractive and well designed carousel.

As you can see, carousel navigation can be an interesting way to display information. The problem is that lots of carousels are poorly implemented, which can increase user frustration. Let’s take a look at the risks regarding carousel navigation to better understand how to avoid them:

• No standards. Carousels behave differently from one Website to another, which can confuse users because they don’t know what to expect from them.
• Lack of visual cues. Some carousels are confusing as they offer little ways for the user to locate themselves on the carousel.
• Most often links cannot be opened in new tabs. This is the case when the carousel is done with Flash. Some users are used to opening links in new tabs and this omission can disappoint them.

The links on Metacritic’s carousel cannot be opened in new tabs.

• Automatic slideshow. Some carousels switch from one story to another automatically, without the user’s consent. This leads to irritation, as the user generally wants control over what he sees. The automatic skipping is fine if it is deactivated once the user hovers above the menus to gain control of the navigation.

IGN’s carousel switches headlines automatically, which is an annoyance.

• Less compatibility. Although this is somewhat minor, you have to take into consideration the fact that Flash-based carousel navigation won’t be compatible with some mobile web-browsing phones.

As with lots of new design trends, carousel navigation is an interesting way to display information, but it has to be conceived with care. Ultimately, it has to be designed with the user in mind as with any other part of your Website.

Suggested reading

• How to Make Atypical Navigations Work Part 2
• Great Idea – Continuous Scrolling