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Designing Side Panels That Add Value to Your Website’s UX

Best practices and use cases for effective side panel design

Eric Chung
UX Planet

Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash

Side panels are exactly what they sound like: a panel on one side of a screen. They typically contain secondary navigation, contextual information, or additional tools that are related to the primary content on the page. The side panel usually remains hidden until the user activates it through a button or mobile gesture, making it a non-intrusive user interface (UI) element that can provide valuable information or functionality without distracting from the primary content.

In this article, we’ll break down the panel design pattern and talk about some best practices and common mistakes to avoid when using side panels in your designs.

Side panel use cases

Side panels can help users complete tasks more efficiently, as they can access useful information or a navigation menu. However, it’s important to use your best judgment to ensure that you don’t overwhelm the user with the side panel or distract them from the main content of the page.

1. Navigation

Side panels are a great way to help users navigate through a website or application by providing quick links to important sections. For example, a blog…

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Responses (2)

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Thanks for sharing this valuable resource. It's just what I needed to design a side panel for our product. 👍🏼

Great post!🔥