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Web Site Navigation

Finding your web site is one thing, but knowing what to do once you get there is quite another. In this article I'll discuss the importance of your web site navigation and how it might just make or break your site.

The aim of a web site's navigation is essentially to allow users to get to the content they came for. They're looking for answers and solutions to problems. They're looking for information to guide them or help them make a buying decision.

For most sites that have a large number of different sections and many web pages the navigation structure needs to be properly researched and intuitively designed for it to work most effectively for your visitors.

You have to consider your various types of visitors, what their needs are and anticipate the most common steps they would take to find what they want on your site.

Your various navigation paths need to optimize this movement.

For example, the steps that are required to search a catalog of items, select from the various choices, add them to a shopping cart, go check out, and then enter the payment info is a specific sequence that should be facilitated by the navigation system.

But even more, it should be fine-tuned.

If the checkout sequence is haphazard, it most likely will lead to frustration on the part of your prospective customer. The customer may miss an important step and you would have an aborted sale. They may get confused and decide not to buy right now.

A confused mind always says no.

To find their way around your site, users need to know three things:

- Where they are now
- How to go elsewhere
- How to get back to where they came from

Navigation does not exist in a vacuum so having good site organization is a prerequisite for a coherent navigation system. In fact, it largely dictates how your navigation will look.

The Objectives Of Your Navigation System

Most site navigation can be divided into two primary styles:

1) Site Location Indicators

2) Navigation Controls.

Site Location Indicators

Location indicators let users know where they are in your site at any given moment. YOu must keep in mind that the users coming from outside your site can enter at any page, not necessarily on one of your main category pages or even your home page.

They need to be able to instantly orientate themselves in your site structure.

It is also important that visitors navigating your site have a clear idea of where they are both in absolute terms and in relation to other content.

Location information should be easily found on all the pages of your site, in the same consistent place and in the same consistent style. Location indicators will tell your visitors where they are.

On a simple site a page banner or heading (in the form of either text or a graphic naming the page) will be sufficient.

For this to work even more effectively, the page name should also appear in the main navigation so that it is relevant within the overall structure of the site.

Color can be also used to designate site structure - as in a different colored background, a contrasting color, or a unique sidebar color in each part of the site.

You might also want to consider color changes that can be reflected in the navigation.

The use of ‘breadcrumbs’ on every page is also good idea if it can be worked into your layout.

Breadcrumbs are used to indicate a series of hierarchical links that the visitor has used to progress from page to page within a section of your site.

Like the children's story of Hansel and Grettle who didn't want to get lost in the forest, the use of breadcrumbs is for leaving a trail of the path you have taken.

In most cases, breadcrumbs appear at the top of the content section, just below the main navigation area. Each element of the breadcrumb is a link to a step in that section or subsection.

This helps in avoiding a repeated clicking of the back button and allows the visitor to immediately go back to any previous step they've taken along the way.

Possibly more importantly, it always indicates the context of the page that is being viewed and how it relates to the section or sub-section the visitor is investigating.

Navigation Controls

Navigation controls are the main navigational links of your site. They allow your visitors to move around the site into the main categories of information. They can be images or text or a combination of both, but they should be intuitively located in the same place and with the same consistent appearance on each page of your site.

Navigation controls have several vital purposes

- They allow users to quickly and easily move about your site
- They tell visitors what info awaits at the link indicated
- They work with your location indicators to orient visitors

A good navigation control:

- Is clear: it looks like a navigational element
- Directs visitors to obvious content - that way your visitors have an idea of what they will find if they click it
- Is consistent with other your navigation controls
- Is consistent in its style and location on the page

There is no mysterious magic or voodoo to good usability. It simply involves creating...

- Aa web site that is accessible to the majority of visitors
- Is easy to use and get around
- Delivers on what it appears to promise to your visitors

There's nothing worse than creating the impression of something your visitors are looking for and then leaving them feeling like they were tricked into clicking.

Only do this if you are trying to hurt your credibility.

It is possible to have a site that meets the most important standards of usability by planning it logically and always keeping the needs of your site guests in mind.

Remember that your site should not be designed for you and your preferences - it should be designed for meeting the needs of those who come calling. Those who have graced you with their valuable attention.

Many of the problems with usability issues can be said to come from just two sources: the site itself and those who built it. But many site owners blame the visitor for not 'getting' their site as it was intended.

This is wrong. In fact, the site is always at fault if a user, no matter how experienced or inexperienced, has problems navigating through sections, getting specific information, or understanding the site structure.

As many web sites have become much more complex as various online technologies have progressed, the average web surfer tends to be less experienced as more and more people go online in greater numbers.

Until a saturation point is achieved, it is a mistake to think that the majority of users will be web savvy, much less computer savvy and will understand the subtle clues about finding the content they are looking for.

Most will not unless you make it easy for them.

So be sure to take these concepts to heart when reviewing and planning your navigation links. And remember - if your prospective customer gets lost, so will your sale and profits.

Warmly,

Vince

P.S. Even you think this article is mainly about eCommerce site, you're missing the point I've made. Even if you don’t have an eCommerce site, navigation is still a HUGE factor.

If your site is business-based, you should know what course your visitor needs to follow to achieve both your and their goals for them being on the site in the first place.

And if your navigation doesn't work to direct visitors as you desire, you have the same problems eCommerce sites do when their prospects bail before the sale.