How to Create an Effective Navigation Structure for Your Site?
A ship captain traversing the open seas without a good
navigation system will surely get lost. Maybe he'll strike sharp
rocks and his ship will sink. A visitor who arrives at your
site and can't navigate it for the information they seek, will
surely get lost also and leave in frustration. Your ship (your
web site) will also sink if this continues to happen.
Good site design means a good navigation structure for your web
site. This means the visitor can find the information with ease.
Put yourself in the shoes of your Grandmother. Would she quickly
and effortlessly be able to find the information she wants, or
know what to click on to make the purchase? Don't think that
just because it is easy for you, it will be easy for others.
Visitors should not need to click more than three times during
their navigation, to find the information they are searching
for.
1. Navigation Styles
These can range from navigation buttons, navigation bars,
plain text links, fancy animated graphics or drop-down select
menus. You can also use illustrations, photographs or graphic
images to show your visitor around. For example, an image map
contains one graphic with different "hot spots"(invisible buttons)
that link to other pages.
2. Primary and Secondary Navigation
Primary navigation consists of the navigation elements that are
accessible from most locations within the site.
Secondary navigation elements allow the user to navigate within
a specific location. For example, many sites have a page that
offers information about the company. The primary navigation
element may be an About Us link.
Once the user arrives on the About Us page, there will be other
links (secondary links), which navigate within the About Us
page.
These could be links to Press Releases, Corporate Locations,
Investor Information and so on. These links are secondary
navigation elements because they are relevant to the About Us
page but not the other pages of the site. Therefore, these links
will not be found in other areas of the site.
3. Guided Navigation
This is a popular technique, in which you guide the visitor
through your site. Links are provided for the next step and
establishing links that keep the users on track continues
the process. These links should supply the necessary
information, as well as an alternate course clearly marked to
allow the visitor to exit. For example, an online purchase
should lead the user through shipping information, then on
to payment information, then to receipt information.
4. Creating a Navigation Action Plan
Determine goals and needs of your audience Decide what the
purpose of your site is and who your target audience will be.
For more in-depth information on this subject visit:"How to Target Your Customers and Put Them in a Buying Mood"
(www.isitebuild.com/target.htm)
Learn from navigation that works Visit several successful sites
that show good navigation e.g., Fedex.com. These sites show good
navigation planning.
Generally, good navigation includes several characteristics:
Offers easy to learn elements
Remains consistent
Provides feedback
Appears in context
Offers alternatives
Provides clear visual messages
Offers clear and understandable labels
Remains appropriate to the site's purpose
Supports visitors goals and behaviors
Providing feedback has the biggest impact on users. Navigation
should tell people, where they are and if possible, where they
have been. Visitors should also be able to easily determine
linked or clickable material.
They need to know whether they successfully made a purchase,
conducted a search, or completed some other task.
Navigation that allows visitors to find information easily and
quickly will contribute to your web site's success. Ask your
grandmother (or someone who is not familiar with the Web) to
navigate your site. If they can find the information they want
within 3 clicks, your navigation structure must be a success.
Congratulations!
Searching for information on the Web has recently become like a
mine field. You find the site you want, only to be greeted by
pop-ups when you enter, pop-ups when you are on the site and
pop-ups when you leave. Other sites use a flash introduction,
make you wait several minutes (which feels like hours), until
the page finishes loading. Heck, you just want to find the
information as swiftly as possible without having to watch out
for these mine fields.
A fast and simple navigation structure is essential for a
successful web site. Visitors must have a good experience at
your site, if you want them to return.
How to design your navigation structure
1. Sketching it out.
Part 1 of this article (www.isitebuild.com/navigation),
discussed the different navigation styles and a navigation
action plan. Now let's begin sketching out your site.
Take one sheet of paper, draw a circle in the middle this is
the subject of your homepage. From there, draw branches, which
have more ideas about your topic. If any topics are related in a
more definitive way, create another branch off the current idea
branch. Within minutes, you will see your web site develop into
a dynamic sketch. You might find that a standard sheet of paper
is not enough to contain all your thoughts. Use more paper,
create more branches, and keep the ideas flowing.
Once you have sketched out your site, use separate sheets of
paper for each web page. Make sure you define a heading for each
page and decide how it links to the other pages. This exercise
will help you to decide how you want visitors to navigate
through your web site.
2. Which navigation style?
This could be a navigation bar across the top, a navigation bar
on the left (the two most common styles), or an image map
(an image divided into separate links to other pages).
If you use graphical icons or other graphics instead of text,
then include the text links elsewhere on your site. This is
because some people browse with their graphics turned off and
this technique allows them to still see and use the links.
3. What colors should you use?
If you have a dark background, with dark graphical icons or text,
your links will be invisible. When using rollovers (links that change
color when you move the mouse over them), be careful that the color
of the changed link will not disappear, in case your visitor wishes
to return to that link.
4. Navigation alignment
Some sites have the navigation icons or text links lined up against
the side or top of the page. Leave an equal amount of space on
either side of your navigational links and make sure they are aligned
with each other.
5. Repetition and consistency
If the visitor has to search for the buttons on every page, or if the
links have different words, techniques or icons, they get annoyed.
Don't you? Navigation elements from page to page should be repeated
and consistent throughout your site. If a visitor sees a navigation
system on every page, it will add to familiarity and orientation.
6. Check your links
Have you ever followed a navigation link, only to find you can't get
back to the home page? You may have clicked on a link, only to get
a page error the page does not exist! Particularly if you have
linked to a web site outside of your own. With time that site may
have disappeared or changed its address.
Make it easy for your visitor to find their way around your
site, by testing out where your links go and that each of them
work. You should do this periodically to avoid the problem of
dead or broken links.
7. Testing your navigation structure
You're overjoyed that your site is finally finished, so you tell
all your friends and family about it. They politely say it is great,
but ask you what it is about and how can they find their way around.
Once completed, you need to step back (go outside of the box you
have been in) and get others to navigate your site preferably
your Grandmother or someone that has never been on the Net.
This is called a usability test. If they have no problem to
discern the purpose of your site and can navigate it with ease,
you are ready to publish it for all the world to see.
Design your navigation structure with the visitor in mind.
Eliminate any obstacles (minefields) that will annoy and
frustrate them, causing them to leave and never wish to return.
If you make it easy for them to find the information they seek,
you will gain many happy customers.
|
