Site Navigation and Usability
Ditch the haughty ideas and focus on the client.
Navigation is the base of Usability
The first and important part of good usability is navigation. Nearly all other usability topics are built on, or in some way linked to navigation. This article will focus on some key tips you can use to develop your site navigation.
Navigation 101: Three click or Bust
When somebody visits your site for the first time, it’s regularly their first point of contact with your company, so the link with them is quite brittle. On average, people are willing to give you three clicks to find what they are searching for, and if they can’t reach their target end within those 3 little clicks, you have missing them. It’s particularly significant to organize your navigation so that any page of your site can be attain within 3 clicks of any other page, because users don’t forever enter at the homepage, particularly when they come from a search engine.
This point is actually what sparked this post. The ad agency mention above wasted two of these important clicks before a user was ever at the index page. Take a look at your site: When you have a new user, can they get to their target end in 3 clicks or less? If not, you require repairing your navigation. Users are likely to get lost without clear navigational path, so make it easy for them. Take time at the beginning of site development to make a good site map, and plan out navigational paths.
Redundancy is a good thing.
Give multiple paths to the same end. Take x product and make sure that client can get there through the main navigation, the related links in the text of the site, and through any other paths that make sense, for example through site search results. The key is to imagine like a user.
Get outside comment.
When developing a site, particularly navigation, it often is essential to get some people to visit your site who are completely unknown with your site and products, and get their feedback. You might be surprised. Often outside comment can you step back and see some fault you weren’t aware of.
Make sure it is easy to read.
Keep in mind that eye-tracking reading have shown the users eye tend to descend toward the top and left sides of the screen, starting with the top left corner, so those are prime place for navigation. Users should never have to scroll to get navigation links.
No comments yet.
Leave a comment
Blogroll
Categories
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- October 2020
- January 2020
- January 2017
- January 2016
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- December 2012
- October 2012
- July 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- July 2010
- December 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008




