Web Navigation Design

The design of a homepage for a website is a lot like a table of contents for the book. The user should be able to quickly look over the page and recognize what they will gain from the website. Due to this, effective navigation is a key factor for successful design.

Navigation titles should be clear to the intended user and should be divided in a way that makes the selection intuitive to the user. Navigation should be limited to a reasonable amount of items; so that less time is required for the user to scan through them. Design of the navigation should be clean and easily recognizable as clickable items. Generally navigation items are placed along the top and/or the left side of the page so that they are easily accessible by the users. If text is not used for navigation, alt tags are necessary for all items for the benefit of text based browser users as well as for search engine benefits.

If the website organization makes it difficult to divide information into categories, it is useful to conduct user testing. This can be as simple as calling in some potential users that are not familiar with the new website to try out some tasks. This will determine if the navigation that you have developed is successful, or if it should be modified. When working with testers, ask them to think aloud and voice any frustrations or unexpected items encountered. This is a fast way to assess the website and make any needed revisions before launch so that the end users do not have to face frustration.