DEEP DIVE: NAVIGATION IN HUB SITES

Navigation in SharePoint Online Hub Sites - SharePoint Online Hub Sites serve as a central mechanism to connect and organize multiple team sites and communication sites into logical "families" based on organizational attributes like departments, projects, or regions.

• Hub Sites provide shared experiences such as branding, search scopes, content roll-ups, and crucially, navigation. Navigation in hub sites is designed to enhance wayfinding across related sites, allowing users to discover content not just on the current site but within the entire hub family. This deep dive explores how navigation functions, its configuration, inheritance mechanics, best practices, and related features, drawing from Microsoft's official documentation and planning guides.

Overview of Hub Sites and Navigation

• Hub sites replace rigid hierarchies from classic SharePoint (like subsites) with flexible, link-based relationships. A hub site is typically created from a communication site and can associate up to thousands of other sites (though practical limits apply for performance). Key benefits include serendipitous content discovery, contextual search narrowing, and consistent experiences across sites.
• Navigation in SharePoint comprises three levels: global (app bar for organization-wide links), hub (top navigation bar shared across associated sites), and local (site-specific top or left menus). Hub navigation specifically extends local wayfinding to cross-site experiences, appearing as a persistent top bar below the suite bar on associated sites. It supports up to three levels of links, enabling structured organization of content.

• This shared navigation helps users answer key questions: "Where am I?", "What can I do here?", and "Where can I go next?" by providing a comprehensive "story" of available content.

• Shared Navigation
  • When a site is associated with a hub, the hub's navigation bar appears at the top of the associated site, integrating with its local navigation. This bar is shared across all associated sites, promoting consistency and easy access to related resources. Hub navigation can include links to associated sites, external resources, or even non-associated sites for broader connectivity. It is dynamic and security-trimmed, meaning users only see links to content they have permission to access.
    • For example, in an HR hub, navigation might link to sites for benefits, training, and policies, allowing users to navigate seamlessly without leaving the hub context.
    • Content from associated sites rolls up to the hub (e.g., via News or Highlighted Content web parts), but navigation itself is manually curated by the hub owner to avoid automatic exposure of all sites. This curation ensures relevant links are highlighted, such as grouping HR sub-functions under logical categories.

Inheritance

• Associated sites inherit the hub's navigation bar and theme upon association, but their permissions remain unchanged.
• The inherited navigation appears alongside the site's local navigation, enhancing discoverability without altering site security.
• Association does not automatically add the site to the hub's navigation; the hub owner must manually add it if desired.
• Changes to the hub navigation (e.g., adding links) can take up to two hours to propagate to associated sites.
• In multi-hub scenarios, sites can only associate with one hub at a time, but hubs can associate with each other to create extended hierarchies (up to three levels for content roll-up). This allows navigation to span broader networks, though direct inheritance is limited to the primary association.
• For instance, a child hub associated with a parent hub will not automatically inherit the parent's navigation; manual links or global navigation must be used for cross-hub connectivity.

Structure and Levels

• Hub navigation supports up to three levels: the first level as top tabs, the second as bold sub-links below or beside them, and the third as indented items. This structure aids in organizing the hub family logically, such as categorizing departments under a main hub link.
• Links can be set to open in new tabs to preserve context, and emojis can be added for visual appeal.
• The navigation is not limited to associated sites; hub owners can add links to any resources, including external URLs or non-associated sites. However, non-associated links do not enable content roll-ups or theme inheritance on the target.
• For usability, aim for no more than 100 links to avoid performance issues, and use the Sites web part for dynamic lists of up to 99 sites.

Configuring Navigation

• Editing the Hub Navigation Bar
  • Hub site owners (or users with Manage Lists permissions) can edit the navigation bar directly from the hub site. Select Edit next to the bar, then add, reorder, or remove links by hovering and using the + icon or ellipsis menu. Reorder via drag-and-drop, and sub-links (up to two levels) can be created by selecting Make sub link or promoted with Promote sub link.
• System links like the Recycle Bin cannot be removed.
  • For hub-specific options, add Associated hubs (links to sibling hubs under the same parent) or Associated child hubs (links to nested hubs). Labels can be added as non-clickable text for organization.
  • On communication sites, a footer menu can also be customized with up to eight items and one level.

Mega Menus vs. Cascading Hub navigation

• Supports two styles: mega menu (expanded layout for broader visibility) and cascading (dropdowns for a compact view). Mega menus are ideal for utilizing all three levels, with second-level links in bold for emphasis, and work best on hubs for increasing content visibility.
  • Configure the style via Settings > Change the look > Navigation. Mega menus are not available in on-premises SharePoint.

Audience Targeting

• Links can be targeted to specific Microsoft 365 groups or security groups (up to 10 per link) for personalized navigation.
• Enable this in site settings, then assign audiences during link creation.
• Targeting applies to the entire sub-tree if set on a parent link, ensuring users see only relevant items.
• This is useful for restricted content, where suffixes like "(restricted)" can signal access limitations.

Best Practices

• User-Centric Design:
  • Plan from the user's perspective, grouping links by intent (e.g., services, audiences) and using clear, mutually exclusive labels with strong "information scent" (e.g., "Employee Benefits" over "Documents"). Test labels for resonance and prioritize progressive disclosure to avoid overwhelming users.
     

Content Linking:

• Link to pages rather than documents for context retention. For communication sites, replace default links with purpose-aligned links.

Governance and Maintenance:

• Use site analytics to monitor engagement and update links regularly.
• Associate sites strategically to balance discoverability with privacy, granting read access where possible for optimal roll-ups.

Performance:

• Limit links for usability and avoid large associations (>2,000 sites) to prevent search/roll-up slowdowns. Curate navigation quality over minimizing clicks.

Limitations and Considerations

• Propagation Delays: Changes may take up to two hours to appear on associated sites.
• Association Limits: Sites can associate with only one hub; multi-hub visibility requires web part customizations or inter-hub associations.
• No Automatic Addition: Associated sites aren't auto added to navigation; manual curation is required.
• On-Premises Restrictions: Mega menus unavailable.

Hierarchical Depth:

• Content roll-ups limited to three levels in nested hubs.

Troubleshooting:

• Common issues include navigation not appearing on associated sites (check association status in SharePoint admin center) or editing access problems (ensure Manage Lists permissions). If inheritance fails, unregister and re-register the hub site.

• For hierarchical setups, use global navigation in the app bar for cross-hub links if direct inheritance isn't possible.

• Always verify security trimming to prevent unauthorized visibility.