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Website Accessibility - Proper Navigation

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



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