Understanding
Navigation
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.
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.
The core of any good navigational
scheme is:
1. Tell people exactly what is available
on your site
2. Help them get to the parts they
want quickly
3 Make it easy to request additional
information
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
