Web surfers are just an impatient bunch and when an internet site is difficult to determine since the links usually are not obvious, they are going to mouse click away to never return. Website navigation is among the most important elements in determining the strength of an internet site. This short article discuses the fundamental principle of designing website navigation.
To work website navigation must first of all seem sensible towards the average person. As there is always room for creativity, well-designed websites generally have similar navigation layouts.
Being a website designer you need to keep in mind the fundamental reason for the web site as well as the intended audience when making navigational elements. Most websites exist either to inform visitors about a service or product or even to actually sell the service or product. Therefore there are several basic guidelines to adhere to:
Ensure all navigational elements are clearly links by utilizing standard conventions for links like buttons, menus, underlining the words or changing color on mouse. Resist the temptation to make use of clever or ambiguous names for links.
When utilizing non-conventional links, explicitly tell visitors that this can be a link. For instance, suppose you design an online page where you would like to make use of a map showing many different cities and wish to allow the user click the city name to tug up details about that city. Just be sure you tell an individual to click the city name to obtain more details about that city.
Recall the "Three Click Rule" that many professional web-site designers use. Research indicates that many users is not going to click a lot more than three links to reach the details they desire. So every page on your own website ought to be reachable within three clicks.
I actually do not recommend utilizing a flash movie or any other kind of splash page on your own website. Keep your webpage design simple yet attractive. But should you choose to utilize one, be sure that you make use of the META REFRESH tag to accept visitor automatically to your house page after a couple of seconds and supply a clickable, clearly marked button or link therefore the visitor can skip the entry page and go directly to your house page otherwise a large proportion of visitors will simply click away to never return. Remember most visitors are searching for information not entertainment.
Navigation Element Locations
Top Menus - a the top of page menu bar is generally located directly beneath the page header graphic which contains the website logo. These menu items might be single links, drop down menus, or expanding menus. Each menu item could be represented with a graphic or simply text. In ether case a hyperlink is assigned to each item the visitor can click to reach the details described.
Left Side Navigation - left side navigation is usually implemented as either a column or text area around the left top part of the webpage. Such as the top menu, each item could be a single link or perhaps an expanding menu.
Right Side Navigation - right side navigation will not be used that frequently, however when used, it really is implemented being a column or text area at the top right side from the webpage. Most designers utilize this area for advertisements instead of site navigation.
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