Optmize Website Navigation
bob on March 28th, 2008
The navigation of a website should be a major part of a website since your websites navigation should meet the expectations of people, here are few point you should consider while designing your website.
* Design your pages to load in less than 5 seconds on a 56K modem.
* Group your navigational options in relevant categories.
* Use common names for your menu options: Home, About Us, Contact Us, Help, Products. Avoid “clever” or “trendy” alternatives.
* If your site uses Flash, provide also an HTML version for users who prefer a less fancy, faster site.
* Provide simple text navigation links at the bottom of long pages, so users don’t need to scroll back up.
* Link your logo to your homepage, except in the homepage itself. Put a link to your homepage on all your internal pages.
* Display a “breadcrumb trail”; it is basically the path from the homepage to the page where you are. A breadcrumb trail looks like this: Home > Section > Sub-Section > Page, and it greatly facilitates navigation.
* If your site is too big, provide Search capabilities. Include a search box in the upper right corner of your homepage, and a link to a Search page from your interior pages.
* Set your search box to search your site, not to search the web.
* Create a custom error page that displays a simple site map with links to the main sections of your site. this is the way, you will not lose visitors that have followed a bad link to your site or who have misspelled your URL while typing.
