Best Practices for Designing Tab Navigation

Discover the best practices for ensuring simple and consistent tab navigation

Content Strategy

9 exercises

Tabs, though small, play a vital role in empowering navigation within an interface. When used correctly, they help organize content efficiently, saving space and reducing user overwhelm by logically grouping related content. Users can anticipate what to expect behind each tab, making the interface straightforward and user-friendly.

However, missteps in tab design can significantly hinder the user experience. Issues like unclear distinction between active and inactive tabs, overcrowding with too many categories, lengthy and complex labels, or inconsistent design can lead to confusion and complicate the user journey. Additionally, it's important to recognize that tabs may not be the ideal navigation choice for every interface. Thoughtful consideration is needed to determine when and how to effectively implement tab navigation to enhance, rather than detract from, the overall user experience.

Use tabs in the correct context

Navigational tabs look exactly like real-world tab dividers in files or tabs on folders in a file drawer. That's why they should look and work how people expect them to. Tabs allow designers to save space and present information in logical chunks. Thus, users don't feel overwhelmed with tons of content and can comfortably navigate it.

It is a good idea to use tabbed navigation in your interface when:

You have between 2 to 9 different categories of content
Category names are relatively short but meaningful
The number of categories is fixed
The categories are similar in nature and won't be perceived as site navigation
The categories fit in a single row^[1]

You shouldn't use navigation tabs if users need to compare multiple content groups simultaneously. It strains their short-term memory and increases cognitive load.

Use white space as dividers

Horizontal menus that use vertical dividers between tabs can often look awkward and cluttered, especially if there are many tabs. These dividers are best used only when necessary — for instance, when simply spacing the tabs apart doesn't provide enough visual separation.

In designs where tabs are fewer and more spread out, leaning on white space for separation is usually more aesthetically pleasing. It creates a cleaner, more streamlined look, avoiding the heavy and cluttered appearance that vertical dividers can sometimes cause.

Ensure tabs look and work the same

Being inconsistent in design diverts users' attention and creates unnecessary visual noise. Tabs should all look and work the same. To achieve this, tabs should have a uniform appearance, featuring the same size, color scheme, and font style. This helps users quickly identify and understand them as part of the same navigational feature.

Additionally, the behavior of the tabs should be consistent. For example, if clicking on one tab reveals content within the same page, all other tabs should function similarly.

Keep unselected tabs visible

Unselected tabs need to be distinct from the active tab, yet they shouldn't appear disabled or too subdued. If they look too muted, users might mistakenly think they are not clickable or miss them altogether.^[2]

It's important to strike a balance where the active tab stands out, perhaps with a bolder color or an underline, while the unselected tabs remain clearly visible and legible. This ensures that users are aware of all available options without confusing the inactive tabs with non-functional elements.

Restrict horizontal tabs to one row

When designing horizontal tab navigation, organize it into meaningful sections that fit within a single row. Implementing multiple rows of tabs can lead to confusion, as users may perceive the second row as containing sub-categories or deem them less important.^[3]

To maintain a clear and efficient navigational experience, aim for a concise, well-organized tab structure that conveys all necessary categories in a single, streamlined row.

Adhere to the parenting principle

In design, "parenting" signifies establishing a hierarchy between objects, ensuring that parent and child elements maintain a consistent relationship. This principle is crucial in navigation design, where the transition direction of tabs and their content should align to create a seamless user experience. For instance, if a tab moves from left to right, its content should also transition in the same direction, similar to flipping pages in a book. This synchronization fosters a sense of unity and interdependence among elements, making the interaction feel natural and cohesive.

Apply hover effect to indicate interactivity

When users switch between tabs and move a mouse over them, use a subtle change of color or elevation to inform them about the system's status change. Simply put, when a tab gets into focus, users should receive feedback that this tab is clickable. This technique is called the hover effect.

Apart from providing feedback, the hover effect makes each tab and the entire interface appear more interactive and adds a pinch of delight to the user experience.

Highlight the selected tab

For optimal user navigation, it's crucial that users can instantly identify which tab they're viewing. Highlighting the active tab distinctively is key here. Using a contrasting color, adding an underline, or an overlay makes the selected tab stand out from the rest.

Moreover, the selected tab should visually appear connected to its content area. This design cue helps users easily distinguish between active and inactive tabs, ensuring clarity even in simple designs with only a couple of tabs.

Define tabs behavior on content scroll

When users scroll up and down through content, tabs can behave in two main ways: they can either be fixed at the top of the screen, or they can scroll off the screen.

Fixed tabs remain visible at the top as users navigate through the content. This approach keeps navigation options readily accessible, making it easy for users to switch between sections without having to scroll back to the top. For example, a news app might use fixed tabs to allow users to easily switch between "Headlines," "Sports," and "Entertainment" while reading articles.
Scrollable tabs can scroll off the screen with the content. In this case, the tabs disappear as users scroll down, but reappear when they scroll back up. This method maximizes screen space for content, which can be particularly useful for content-heavy pages. For instance, on a product page in an e-commerce app, scrolling tabs might allow users to focus on product details and images, with the tabs reappearing when they need to navigate to related products or reviews.