| A very important point to consider while designing a | | | | menus, and therefore a small percentage of people |
| website is proper navigation. You must ensure that | | | | may not be able to navigate your website. Even |
| potential clients or customers are able to find the | | | | more important though, is the fact that search |
| information they are looking for without too many | | | | engines will not be able to navigate and index your |
| clicks. As a quick rule of thumb, visitors to your site | | | | site if there is no text based navigation. |
| should be able to visit all your pages by using, at | | | | Another concern is accessibility by assistive |
| most, 3 clicks. This is also important when considering | | | | technologies. For example, blind Internet users literally |
| search engine optimization (SEO) because search | | | | read the code of your page. Therefore, if a |
| engines will only spider (or index) pages that are 3 | | | | navigation menu is image based or uses image maps, |
| clicks deep into your site. Not only does proper | | | | alternate text must be used to allow the user to |
| navigation allow users to find information they are | | | | properly navigate the website. To make things easy, |
| looking for, but it also allows search engines to spider | | | | no matter what type of navigation I choose for a |
| (or index) the information they are looking for. This is | | | | client's website, I always include text-based |
| essential if you want high quality search engine traffic | | | | navigation links at the bottom of every page to |
| directed to your website. | | | | ensure that they are accessible to all Internet users |
| Different types of websites employ different | | | | and search engine spiders. |
| navigation styles, so it is probably best to visit | | | | A Few Important Tips |
| websites similar to your own to see which navigation | | | | - Plan your site navigation structure before designing |
| structure they have chosen. The most common | | | | your website to ensure that you are not forgetting |
| locations for your navigation menu are either on the | | | | any page links. It may be cumbersome to fix every |
| left side of the page or at the top of the page. | | | | page you have created because you a missing a link |
| When internet users view a website, they do so | | | | or two. |
| using what is termed as a "Z scan". As soon as a | | | | - The navigation menu must be clean-cut and uniform. |
| page loads, most people scan from the top-left, | | | | - Do not make the user scroll down the page to see |
| across to the top-right of the page, then down to | | | | the navigation menu. |
| the lower-left, and eventually across to the | | | | - If you have too many links, use drop-down menus |
| lower-right of the page. So, it makes the most sense | | | | or create a site map. |
| to locate your navigation menu in the area where the | | | | - The navigation structure should be flexible enough |
| user is going to first look. | | | | to allow the inclusion of a additional links at a later |
| Smaller sites usually only require a static menu on | | | | date. |
| either the side or top of the page. However, website | | | | - Use short, clear and concise words in your links so |
| that contains 10 - 15 topics on different pages may | | | | your customers know exactly what type of |
| require a drop-down menu. These menus may use | | | | information that page will contain. |
| DHTM, JavaScript, or some other programming | | | | - Make sure every page has a link back to your |
| language. When the user's mouse moves over a main | | | | homepage. This can be achieved by providing a |
| topic category, boxes containing subcategories will | | | | "Home" link in the navigation structure, and / or linking |
| drop-down, allowing the user to quickly find the | | | | your logo image to the homepage. |
| information they are looking for. I f this type of | | | | - For larger sites, breadcrumb trails can be used to let |
| menu is used, it is best to also include text-based | | | | the user know what section of the website they are |
| navigation in another location on the page. Older | | | | in. |
| browser versions may not support drop-down | | | | |