Website Navigation

Website Navigation Designing a professional website navigation system
Design your website navigation for your target audience We've discussed who you have decided your target audience will be. Now, ask yourself what kind of information will they will be looking for and what questions will they will be asking. In order to develop a strong navagation scheme you will need to know these things.

Two-Click navigation Once our visitors intrests are understood we need to help them find the information and the answers, that they are seeking, by the shortest route possible. This means organizing your website navagation in such a way that this information is only two clicks away. Header, navbar and footer links should be directly linked to main content areas of your site (i.e. one click). The main content areas of your website should then link directly to the information that your visitor is seeking (i.e. second click). See diagram below. Two step navigation model Avoid having too many links Have you ever visited a website where you keep clicking on links, hoping you are going to find that information you're looking for, only to be led to more pages of links. It gets frustrating and visitors often leave without finding what they were looking for. That is not good for you or your visitor. Your navigation scheme should reflect your website structure The answer is to have a clean, simple website structure and navigation scheme that is as clear and obvious as possible. You should always make it clear for your visitors how they can get between topics easily and always provide a means for them to go back from where they started. Make an outline of your website and go from there. The three main website navigation models There are many schools of thought on the best website navigational design. I don't believe there is any one ''best'' design; Your navigation model depends on your website and its content and is often a combination of two or more designs. Examine the three different website navigation methods and see how they work. They are; linear navigation, database navigation and hierarchical navigation. See below. Linear Navigation Linear Navigation: Moving in a straight line through a website Database Navigation Database Navigation: Moving in and out of website content areas Hierarchical Navigation Hierarchical Navigation: Moving up, down and around a website Many websites are a combination of navigational models As I said earlier, many websites are a combination of navigational models and you will have to determine which method works best for your webpages. It is important to have a clear idea of your navigational system before you organize your website. Help your visitors find the information they need with the least number of clicks. This will also serve you in creating your website structure. Note: you don't want to put a direct link to everything on your website on any single page. Your website links should progress through several levels branching out as they go. Too many links to choose from and your visitors often won't know what to click on. Use your sitemap for a secondary navigation source Your sitemap is an excellent navigation tool. The good thing about a sitemap is that it provides your visitor with direct access to anything on the website. But, in order for your sitemap to function as a navigational tool it is necessary for your visitors to be able to access it easily. Provide a link to your sitemap on every page on your website. The sitemap should be your secondary means of navigation, not the primary one. Designing your website navigation bar (navbar) There are no certain rules about how and where to put your navigation bar. Many webmasters put it along the left side of their webpages. Some put it on the top. Occasionally a website will put it on the right side, forcing the visitor to look in that direction. Whatever works best for your website and its contents should be your approach to placing your navigation bar. When deciding on the placement of your nav bar you should consider the effect it will have on the space you will have available for your content. Navigation bars can take up a lot of space that could otherwise be used for content. This is why it is advisable to use links only to your main topics and branch out from them on following pages. Design your navigation links around a theme Every website should have some type of theme - a way of giving your site an identifying look.This can be through the use of a unique logo, a particular color combination or a recognizable idea such as gardening or pets.
Blend your navagation components into the layout of your webpages Your theme should be considered when designing your navigation scheme. For a professional look it is imperative that you blend your navagation components into the layout of your webpages. Develop a theme and work it into the way that you display your navigation links. (i.e. icons,bullets,colors,etc.) It's also important to note that you should always include a text-only copy of your navigation links, as some people surf with images turned off or even with text-only browsers. Page headers and footers are a logical place to include your text-only links.