Why easy navigation is so important

The word is well chosen: 'navigation'. It implies the often difficult task of taking a journey, sometimes with a minimum of landmarks. Easy navigation for users is a major component of site usability, and one which many websites fail to provide.

One reason for this is that site designers do not place themselves into the mind of a first-time visitor to the site. Designers know the contents of their sites and the way to reach any page, and assume that anyone else can do the same!

I visited a major European city recently and wanted to go to a number of museums. The tourist street map was not very clear. Street signs to the museums did not exist at all. When I arrived at one museum, the name board was small and easy to miss. The main entrance was not on the road - did not even face the road - and itself had no 'entrance' sign. By some cultural practice (despite this being summer), main doors to all the museums were shut - which in my country would imply that the museum was closed. Even inside the museums, signs to different sections were minimal or non-existent, and from the viewpoint of my own culture, layout and contents were often not logical or themed. If this beautiful and famous city were a website, and if I had not been determined, one click of the mouse and I would have gone somewhere else!

Visiting a website can be like a visit to a foreign country! There are several keys to making a website easy to navigate:

1. Where am I?
   The user must know instinctively, at every point within the site, the answer to these questions:
   
   • Where am I?
   • Where can I go?
   • Where have I been?
   Every page can display all three elements, ideally in a navigation bar which shows at a glance an overview of the site. A 'you are here' pointer or highlighter (which replaces the hyperlink on the navigation bar for the current page being visited) is also helpful. A more extensive breadcrumb trail can be helpful. Remember that each page should in any case by a logical entry point for a user arriving directly via search engines or other direct links, rather than via the home page. The user must always feel in control, but never lost.

2. Is it worth bothering?
   If a link on a page is described only by a single word, it is doubtful that the contents of that page are being explained in sufficient detail. People do not want to click on links to see if the page matches their interest - they need to know in advance. Describe pages in sufficient enticing detail - either with a line of description after the link, or else by the use of a 'mouse-over' popup title, which is very easy to add to a link, and is used extensively on this site.

3. Don't spoil for choice
   A homepage which is covered with many different links, graphics, and features, is potentially very confusing. Tests show that adults cannot hold more than seven or eight options in their minds at the same time. It may be wise to restrict the number of main section links within a site to about this number. Then other pages can be links from these main themed sections.

4. Logical structure
   Plan the site structure logically. Make every page accessible with a minimum number of clicks - this suggests that no page should usually be more than three layers deep in the site. Provide a sitemap showing every available page - some people prefer to access a site this way. (It also helps search engines spider through your site.) A site-search option which offers a keyword search to all your pages is a valuable addition. Atomz offer this service free with a very configurable system.

Place yourself in the mind of a first-time site visitor - or better, ask some friends who do not know your site to test it for you. Remember also that many visitors will be relative newcome to the Web, and will not understand web conventions that you take for granted. You could be losing many visitors if your site lacks usability.

DHTML Menus
If your site has a number of pages, it is worth considering a DHTML menu with drop-down or pop-out links. You can see an example in the left-hand column which is provided by Milonic. The advantage to the site visitor is that all pages are visible at a glance using a 'mouseover' movement, rather than clicking to search through different sub-sections. Using such a menu will increase the number of individual pages visited by a large percentage. More on menus.

Other usability links Offering easy and intuitive navigation is a major aspect of making a site accessible and usable. There are however three elements involved in overall site accessibility: more details.

• Jakob Neilsen's Alertbox - twice-monthly feature
• Homepage Usability: 55 Websites Deconstructed
  - Jakob Neilsen's recommended book
• Usability checklist - vital advice from NetMechanic
• Usable Web - essential reference page
• Avoiding idiom - use language that second-language speakers can understand
• Christian jargon - how to avoid using it on evangelistic pages
• Learn from showcase examples of bad design and good design
• Color mixer - font and page background colors affect usability - test them with this interactive page

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