A website’s navigation is one of its most important parts. Sure, your users mostly come in through search engines now instead of via your homepage, but how can they get from whatever page they’re on to any other page they might want to go to? The limited space available at the top and sides of most web pages (at least when compared to the amount of content many contain) makes good navigation design difficult, but vital. Here, then, are five principles of effective navigation.
1. Don’t Be Original.
What? Don’t be original? What kind of advice is that? Well, if you spend any time visiting sites on the web, you should realise that it’s better advice than it might sound.
Let’s say you’ve just landed at some website for a search. You read a bit, you’re interested, but you’d like to know more about what this website is and why it’s here – basically, can you trust it? If you’re anything like me, you look around for a navigation link called ‘about’, ‘about us’, or something similar. Calling this link something else – ‘philosophy’, for example – will only confuse your visitors, and make them less able to find what they’re looking for. However much you might dislike the conventions of the web, you have to accept that we’re stuck with them at this point, at least if you want your website to be as usable as it can be.
2. Clicking the Logo Always Goes Home…
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