The UX Case against the Home Button

For years, the “home” button has provided a compass rose, the north star, a navigator’s ability to regroup to the familiar comfort of the homepage no matter how deep into a website we’ve gone. As users become more fluent in navigating the intricacies of the Web however, having a prominent home button is becoming an unnecessary navigation crutch — a visual obstacle that web designers increasingly eschew.

Because primary navigation represents a series of choices that we’re asking users to make, it’s important to only offer the most important content categories as options. By culling the home button from this list, the decision-making process is simplified and we are able to provide an improved user experience.

In an increasingly tech-savvy population, the home button is irrelevant to users who easily navigate the average website without it. Reserving it a space in your sites’ primary navigation when the same functionality exists elsewhere is a waste of valuable real estate.

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