design pattern of the week: footers
This pattern is adapted and updated from Martijn van Welie's UI patterns with permission.
When users get deeper into mobile web sites they also need to be able to go back to important locations such as the home page or category page. The homepage is practically always relevant but the other locations depend on the context of the page.
Design
Create a consistent set of links to be displayed at the bottom of each page. Consider including links to:
- the site home page
- search
- home
- important locations
Unless you can support AJAX-like capabilities, the footer should be short, no more than approximately 5 links. Large footers will increase the load time of every page in your site.
Applicable Devices and Platforms
Web sites and other platforms that do not provide access to softkeys.
When Used
Use on all pages in your site.
Rationale
The footer is the place that is seen last when browsing a page. That is the moment when users have to decide what to do, if they haven't already done so. Home is an important element to have since it forms an always present link to a "safe location".
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 9:59 pm and is filed under Design, Mobile web, UI Design Patterns.
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