About this episode

David and Nathan discuss the complexities and frustrations of website navigation.

On the podcast today, David and Nathan are back with the second episode in their new series, where they break down the key components that make up a website. Today, they’re talking about website navigation, and asking the surprisingly sticky question: why is it so bloody awful? David has done a deep dive into the ins and outs of navigation, putting together an exhaustive list of all the pieces involved. Nathan admits he used to take a much simpler approach, just add the top-level links and hope Google did the rest, but David’s research proves there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. They start by exploring the shifting meaning of terms like “menu,” “navigation,” and “nav,” both from a developer and a user’s perspective. Is it a noun? Is it a verb? Is it a technical role? As they discovered, even big names in UX like the Nielsen Norman Group can’t seem to agree. From there, they walk through the many different types of website navigation: main links, hamburger menus, even on desktop, breadcrumbs, dropdowns (on hover or click), mega menus, and more. And it’s not just the styles that are confusing, there’s a tangle of terminology too, with “dropdowns,” “flyouts,” and “pull…

People in this episode

Hosts: Nathan Wrigley, David Waumsley

Topics covered

• website navigation
• user experience
• web design
• accessibility
• menu types

Keywords

• website navigation
• UX
• menu types
• accessibility
• dropdowns

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nielsen Norman Group

More episodes of No Script Show

• Ep30. Content design · April 2, 2026 · 36 min
• Ep29. Making a website owners manual · March 13, 2026 · 60 min
• Ep28. Trap or Trade off What small businesses should know before getting a website · February 6, 2026 · 54 min
• Ep27. Enshittification. Why We Need Independent Websites. · January 8, 2026 · 1h 6m
• Ep26. Google Ads for Local Businesses. Avoid costly mistakes. · November 29, 2025 · 41 min
• Ep25. Form options for static websites · September 10, 2025 · 50 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the No Script Show podcast page.