Posted on July 16th, 2010You may have marketing objectives and goals for your site, but if your visitors can’t find anything they want or can’t perform an important action, you won’t be able to meet those objectives. Many good sites follow these essential navigation principles:
- The main menu and options should show up consistently on all pages at the exactly same place.
- The footer area includes links of major areas in your sites so people don’t have to scroll all the way to the top to find the navigation links.
- Secondary menus, it allows users to have a glimpse of what they’ll find within an area.
- A linkable index or sitemap to provide an overview of the site structure.
- Navigation links to allow users know where they’ve been and where they are.
- A built-in search engine for big, information- and product-loaded sites so people can easily find what they’re looking for. On-the-spot search can give a high usability value. Be sure the web developer tests it thoroughly to find failed searches. A consumer feedback feature can suggest what the site is missing.
- Text navigation shouldn’t use nameless icons that people need to remember. It’s a good idea to use words that are also search terms. Search engine bots can’t read icons.
- All navigation and contextual links should be verified to make sure they work properly, and bring visitors to the correct page.
Navigation is one of the usability factors that could dramatically affect your online success. A site that is easy to use and simple, gives visitors a good impression of your business. A site that fails to run on their computer will do just the opposite!
Ideally, you won’t know about specific browser options on each visitor- whether they use a plugin to block all pop-ups, how accurately their display show colors, or how fast their Internet connections might be. Some developers use software like BrowserHawk to collect users’ browser settings, but for the rest of us we may need to feel for the numbers. In developed countries, more than 80 percent of people use broadband connections, but the figure may be much lower in less developed countries. Most may still use 1024 x 768 monitor resolution or higher. Because many people might still struggle with their low-speed connections, you need to develop a site that can work for all users.
Those statistics have a big impact on whether you should provide media-rich content and how you should develop your site. Over time, you can gather more accurate visitor statistics and by all means, you should do research across many user groups in the target market. Consider offering non-Flash or dial-up alternatives for users with sluggish connection. Test your site on commonly-used browsers and versions for performance and compatibility. Most users still use Internet Explorer; about 40 percent run Firefox; less than 5 percent use Opera or Safari.