Megamenu navigation is coming to SharePoint Online communication sites in February. These tips will help you get started.
Courtesy of “THE” Susan Hanley
Megamenu navigation for SharePoint was announced to great applause at the Microsoft Ignite conference in September 2018. In a blog post on January 30, Mark Kashman (senior product manager at Microsoft) announced that megamenu navigation will be deployed to Targeted Release customers by the end of February 2019 and to all Office 365 production customers by the end of March. Megamenus have already arrived in my personal tenant, and there are definitely some things you will want to think about before you go mega crazy!
As an information architect, I couldn’t be happier to have this option for site navigation added to my SharePoint toolkit. But just like any feature that affects the end user experience, it needs to be used wisely. Here are few tips to get you started:
It’s mega or not – pick one option per site
Megamenus will be available for communication sites (and a hub site if it is a communication site). You will get two choices: cascading menus (the current three-level fly out option) or megamenus (which also have up to three levels). The option is available in the “Change the look” pane for Site Owners. Once the option is selected, you can use the navigation Edit menu to add and update links.
Use megamenus when you have a long list of sub-pages and menus
Megamenus are really helpful when you have a lot of content to present on your site. Remember to think about who is using the site — and what their top asks and tasks are — and plan accordingly. The nice thing about megamenus is they allow you to show every major option at once — without scrolling. They also allow you to create a visually engaging navigation experience because you can show multiple levels at the same time.
Less is more – don’t go mega overboard
Too many links can overwhelm your users. Try to group link options into related sets and order the groups in a logical way. Try not to duplicate links in the same menu tab to avoid confusion. Do your best to keep it simple.
Jim Ehrenberg (SharePoint Pros, Inc.) 