WEB200 > Navigation Design for the Web
People will not use your website if they cannot find their way around it.
Dictionary Version 2.0.3 (51.5) by Apple Inc.
Scene from a Mall
As you walk into a store looking for something you need you will inevitably use the store’s navigation system to aid you in finding your product:
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - p. 53
A typical shopping scenario goes something like this:
- Enter the store
- Look overhead for the names of departments
- Look at the signs to see the names of each aisle
- Look at the individual sections of products
- Find your product
Web Navigation 101
Just like you look for clues in a department store, you also look for those same clues when using a website:
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - p. 55
- You are usually trying to find something
- You decide whether to ask first or browse first
- If you choose to browse, you make your way through a heirarchy, using signs to guide you
- If you can’t find what you are looking for, you leave
The Overlooked Purpose of Navigation
Navigation isn’t just a feature of a website, it is the website.
Navigation’s main role in a website is fairly obvious, it helps us find us what we are looking for. But, navigation also serves other purposes:
- It gives us something to hold on to
- It tells us what’s there
- It tells us how to use the site
- It gives us confidence in the people who designed and built the site
Website Navigation Conventions
Putting your navigation in a standard place and using a proven convention will allow the user to locate the navigation more quickly and be able to use it more easily.
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - p. 61
Typical navigation schemes include:
- Site ID: this is also link back to the home page
- Main Category Section: global navigation
- Sub-Category Sections: sub navigation
- Page Name: where you are in the site
- Footer: extra site information outside the normal hierarchy of pages
You are Here?
One of the ways that navigation can help someone not feel lost within the site is to use the “you are here” indicators.
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - p. 75
These indicators can be as simple as using a page name and/or using the highlight state of your navigation to announce what page the user is on.
Putting it Together
You: Great Mike… again, thanks for all of the screenshots. But, now how do I put all of this stuff together.
Me: How about we take a look at my example and we can talk about how I put all of this stuff together. Sound good?
Example Navigation & Content Design, by Mike Sinkula
Navigation & Content Schemes
You: Sweet, Mike… I get it! So what else is out there that we can look at?
Me: Well… funny you should ask that question. Here are some example navigational schemes that we can look at. Let’s see if you can identify the parts we have discussed and figure out what scheme is best for you to follow.
dmi.org
senateband.com
peelinteractive.com
summitkreative.com
iconfactory.com
deepblue.com
jetcityimprov.com
timbuk2.com
ideabook.com
cesarmillaninc.com
BBC Site Redesign Eloquently Explained…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/02/a_new_global_visual_language_f.html
I started looking at Mike’s examples here, and wandered off one of them to a site/blog that really interested me: an in-depth description of a redesign, how they thought it out and the graphic elements they adopted. I hope you enjoy it.
Nice… I added this to my resources page!
A cool site with very simple navigation. I liked it so much I wanted to share it.
http://www.doublehappycreative.com/
I came across a great page about using color and gradients in logos. These tend to look better on the web than in print (business cards being an example) but they work good on-screen. Check them out at http://abduzeedo.com/great-examples-colorful-gradients-and-3d-effects-logos .
Here’s a great article about navigation: a gallery of 50 beautiful and user-friendly menu systems. It’s good inspiration!
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/04/50-beautiful-and-user-friendly-navigation-menus/
Trevor
I looked for a web site to use as an example for good navigation and I came across http://www.works4sure.nl . I don’t even know what language this site is in but I still understood how everything worked. I think it’s a great example of good navigation and following established patterns for page layout.
here’s the tutorial found on active menu items in CSS. I’ve already used it in a site and it works great. It’s really simple and easy to use.
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200503/setting_the_current_menu_state_with_css/
maybe you can put it on the blog or show it to the class because I know everyone wants to use it.