Multi-Toggle Navigation

Barack Obama's Multi-Toggle Navigation from his redesigned campaign site

The multi-toggle is basically just nested accordions. The user taps on the parent category to reveal children categories underneath. Once enough screen real estate becomes available, they convert to the usual multi-level dropdown we’re used to seeing.

Quick tip: use one of two emerging icons: the plus sign (+) or downward caret (▼ ▼) to let users know there’s more content.

Pros

Scannable – users can quickly scan parent categories before making a decision to go to the next level.
Scalable – Got a menu that’s 17 levels deep? This solution can technically handle it with ease (but please don’t do that)

Cons

Not terribly sexy – tapping through a bunch of Russian nesting doll navigation levels isn’t the most elegant thing in the world, but then again I suppose you could say that about any multi-level navigation solution.
Potential JS requirement – I say ‘potential’ just because most accordion-style interactions I’ve seen uses JS to make the interaction happen. However, the brilliant Aaron Gustafson demonstrated that you can accomplish this effect using CSS’s :target pseudo-class. Pretty neat! Also, a JS requirement itself isn’t necessarily a con, just make sure the navigation is accessible for users with poor/no JS support.

Resources

Build a smart mobile navigation without hacks
Animate using min-height by Lea Verou – This technique is insanely badass. I use it for all my height-animating needs, including accordions.
jQuery Accordion

In the Wild

Barack Obama’s (redesigned) site in conjunction with the footer anchor pattern.