Website navigation

In the early days of the Internet, web designers were trying to out-class the competition with more and more creative websites. I remember visiting one website which was all black. Nothing was visible – just a dark void! I waiting for the information to load, then having given up waiting, I moved the mouse towards the “Back” button. As I moved the mouse an image lit up revealing a menu option, I moved the mouse around and hunted for more menu options. Very cleaver! But navigation was a nightmare – it was near impossible to find anything. Impressive, but utterly useless – it was an expensive novelty, doomed to fail.

It didn’t take long to realise that these overly creative but confounding websites only impressed other designers. Genuine customers were simply frustrated and soon clicked away to a competitors website that was somewhat less spectacular but easier to use.

There are many studies on website navigation, and all agree that the navigational object (buttons, text links, etc) should follow a well established consensus; text links should be coloured and underlined, visited links should not be coloured the same as unvisited links. Etc. (Jakob Nielsen is a great source for this and other usability subjects).

In my opinion:

The navigation system should be intuitive. The visitor should know immediately where to find the menu, and how to use it.
The menu should be in the same location on all pages, and should be arranged so that the most popular options are most visible.
Use of “Site Maps”, “Search” boxes, and other devices that allow users to quickly find what they are looking for is important.
All text links should stand out from other copy and should be underlined as is the Internet convention.
I suggest opening a new window for external links.
Use style sheets to ensure the consistency of all links (and other elements).

e-Commerce & Small Business

Ecommerce Website Design & Marketing for Australian Small Business

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