Understanding Navigation |
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Navigation is one of the most critical aspects of Web site design
- arguably the most important. No matter how good a site looks,
and no matter how much useful information it offers, without sensible
navigation scheme, it will only manage to confuse visitors and
chase them away. A simple, logical, understandable navigation
scheme can increase your number of page impressions, boost return
visits, and improve your "conversion rate" (the number of visitors
who are "converted" into customers). It's a critical aspect of
site design that has a direct effect on the bottom line. |
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Good navigation is mostly a matter of common sense and although
it varies somewhat for different types of sites, there are certain
basic principles that apply to almost all sites, or at least almost
all business sites. Well-designed Web sites tend to have similar
navigational layouts, for the same reasons that most books have
a table of contents and an index. However, there are differing
opinions about some navigational issues, and of course every site
is different, so if something off the beaten path works for you,
go for it. Just be sure that your navigation scheme is well thought-out
and logical. |
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The core of any good navigational scheme is:
- Tell people exactly what is available on your site
- Help them get to the parts they want quickly.
- Make it easy to request additional information
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Top Down or Hierarchical Design
Many sites use a hierarchical or pyramid type arrangement. Visitors
in such sites go from layer to layer in a top down or general
to specific direction. A hierarchy may be thought of as a triangle,
with the home page at the top corner, and the lowest level of
detail as the bottom edge of the triangle. Hierarchies only make
sense when they are reasonably close to an equilateral (equal-sided)
triangle. If your home page links to twenty pages, you should
add another level. If your home page links to only two pages,
each of which links to only two pages, etc., then you have too
many levels. Smaller sites usually need only two levels, while
medium-sized sites may have a secondary level of "hub" pages between
the home page and the lower level containing the actual content.
Of course, some sections of your site may have more levels than
others.
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One pertinent question here is - How long should each page be? This is partly a matter of opinion, and varies greatly from one site to another. Some people believe that lengthy content, which if placed on a single page would require readers to scroll down several screens to see it all, should be broken up into several pages. Others argue that it's less hassle to scroll down a lengthy page than it is to click through to another page and wait for it to load. Sites designed for geeks (programming and network stuff) almost always seem to go for the long-page model, while more "consumer-oriented" sites more often choose the lots-of-short-pages design. Some online magazines, or "content-based" sites, do this for financial reasons. They sell ads based on the number of page impressions delivered, so breaking an article up into five pages means that they will score five page impressions instead of one (assuming that the article holds the reader's interest). It may also improve search engine findability, and make articles easier to maintain. The author prefers to avoid breaking content up into too many pages. There's nothing wrong with a page that scrolls down for miles, as long as it's designed properly.
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A long page should have a table of contents at the top, with hyperlinks to each section of the page. This is done by inserting intra-document hyperlink tags at appropriate points in the page. For example, please see the pages in BUYER section of Banijya.
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Navigation Bar
Navigation bar is an essential element of a well-laid-out site. A navbar not only makes navigation easier, but is an integral part of a site's branding. When a user sees the navbar, they know what site they're on, and they know that they can get back to where they started any time, so they worry less about getting lost. Your navbar should include all the main sections of your site, and it should be the same on every page of the site (although each section of a larger site may have its own sectional navbar in addition to the main navbar). Every page should have a navbar as an integral part of the layout of the page, which should be consistent throughout the site. Most designers put a navbar at both top and bottom of the page, although they needn't be exactly the same. A "sidebar" is also a good place for a navbar.
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A navbar may be made up of individual graphics, it may be an image map, or it may be simple text. Javascript may be used to make the buttons change appearance when the mouse is over them, or to create even more elaborate effects, such as a bit of explanatory text that appears for each item. Make sure that your script includes a bit of code at the beginning to hide the script code from older browsers that don't support Javascript. The Golden Rule of Web design applies to navbars, too: Keep it simple ! Never use clever Javascript animations just because you can, but only if they actually add functionality to the user interface.
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Frame or No-Frame ?
Many sites use frames as part of their navigational strategy.
If you divide each page into two or three frames, you can have
your company logo and/or your navbar constantly in sight. The
frame with the content scrolls, but the frame with the navbar
does not, so the navbar is always right there where the user can
find it.
Frames, however, have several drawbacks. All hyperlinks on a framed
site must use the TARGET attribute to ensure that a page comes
up in the correct frame. Nothing looks more stupid than a page
full of content coming up in a narrow frame that was intended
for the navbar. Getting the TARGET attributes right can be quite
complex, and every single link must be tested to make sure that
the frame scheme works out right.
If someone (or a search engine) links to a page that is not a
frameset, it will not come up the way you intended, and you'll
look like an amateur. To mitigate this problem, include a "robots.txt"
file in your home directory. This file contains a list of directories
that should not be indexed by visiting spiders. All pages other
than framesets should be in separate directories, and those directories
included in your "robots.txt" file.
If you have links to other sites, these links must include a TARGET=
"_parent" attribute so that the other site will not come up inside
one of your frames ("_blank" or "_new_window" will also work).
Never, ever have someone else's site come up inside one of your
frames. This quite rightly makes site owners apoplectic, not only
because it's unethical (and possibly even illegal - the jury's
still out), but because it violates every principle of good design.
A page designed to be viewed as a full screen will not look good
inside a frame. It will scroll, you will look like an amateur,
they will complain, and you will go to Hell.
Incidentally, the author objects to frames not for any of the
reasons mentioned above, but simply because they tend to make
a page look cramped and cluttered. There's also the question of
undesired scrolling, which can really make a page look terrible.
Only neophytes (or self-parodists) use more than 3 frames on a
page, and those who choose to use them should make sure that they
fully understand how they work, and handle them as one would a
loaded firearm.
Is there a middle way where you can use the helpful navigation
feature of frames without subscribing to its idiosyncrasies ?
Well, look at the design of this page. The navbar at left looks
like frame, but actually there is no frame. |
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| Understanding Navigation |
| Key success factors |
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