Social Buttons in Menu Item

Forum Moderators: rogerd & travelin cat

Message Too Old, No Replies

Social Buttons in Menu Item

deeper

8:51 pm on Nov 16, 2014 (gmt 0)

Hi,

my static front page has enough space to add a menu item in my horizontal header navigation. I'd like to use it for three social buttons. Simple share buttons, without using the original code, i.e., without JavaScript. No profile buttons, FB-like or +1, all three are sharing buttons.

Obviously it's not very unusual to use a menu item this way with Wordpress. Google let me find some nice articles, like [diythemes.com...]

All articles I found however inserted links to social profiles, like www.facebook.com/johnsmith in the URL-field of a custom link in Wordpress.

What about linking to [facebook.com...] It's a simple static share-link.

Does it work properly, is it advisable?

lorax

9:12 pm on Nov 16, 2014 (gmt 0)

Probably possible but I wouldn't do it because it's not what the typical user is expecting. I'd put the share buttons either above the header nav or someplace else high up but not in the menu structure.

deeper

1:18 am on Nov 17, 2014 (gmt 0)

Probably possible but I wouldn't do it because it's not what the typical user is expecting

Because a nav usually leads to my internal pages and not to their FB-profile?

Mouseover with a proper hint is no sufficient "comfort" for their expectations or acceptable correction?

lorax

1:22 am on Nov 17, 2014 (gmt 0)

Precisely. No a hint isn't sufficient IMO. It's the placement that's the issue. The nav bar is for internal links. I subscribe to the "don't make me think" principals. What you're proposing may work for some but I fear you'd lose a bunch. Keep it simple and obvious.

deeper

2:07 pm on Nov 17, 2014 (gmt 0)

I understand.

I have read a lot of articles about the best position for social buttons and two things are obvious:

1. Basically the top is a good place for all kind of buttons.
2. A WP menu item is a good place for social buttons.

So I didn't think about this special case of SHARE buttons in the menu, which may be an exception.

Btw, share buttons have a further disadvantage if placed in the menu: You need a lot of menu items and different navs, because usually you want to share individual pages with its individual URLs in your button link (u-parameter).