Website Navigation

Finding your website is one thing, but knowing what to do
once you get there is quite another. In this article we
will discuss the importance of website navigation and how it
can make or break your site.

The aim of a web site's navigation is simply to allow users
to get to the content they require. For sites that have a
large number of sections and web pages (and information
sites can be one of these) the navigation plan has to be
properly researched and designed. You have to consider
different types of visitors and simulate the most common
steps they would take to find what they want on your site
and the navigation plan has to optimize this movement. For
example the steps required from searching a catalog of
items, selecting from the catalog, adding them to a shopping
cart, proceeding to check out, to entering the payment
particulars is a specific sequence that should be
facilitated by the navigation system. If the sequence is
haphazard, it could lead to frustration or the user may miss
an important step and you would have an aborted sale.

To find their way about, users need to know two things:

* Where they are now
* How to go elsewhere

Navigation does not exist in isolation; good site
organization is a prerequisite for a coherent navigation
system.