Navigation for the Easily Confused
Designing a website is like a… refrigerator. It’s tall, white and weighs about 300 lbs.
No. Wait. Scratch that.
Designing a website is like an “all-you-can-eat” buffet. No matter how many times you go back, they can’t say “no”.
That’s no good either.
Designing a website is like chewing toffee. It tastes great, but you’ll be picking it out of your teeth for days.
Hmm.
Dylan Campbell enjoys writing. He really does. But stress builds up over time. The pressure to deliver a neat, tidy article with a great opening illustration and a punchy conclusion becomes overwhelming.
And why does every article have to start with a cute illustration as if the reader is incapable of understanding it without a handy parallel to hold the argument up against?
It’s time for a revolution. It’s time for a radical alteration in how articles are written and presented. It’s time for… no wait. Hang on… I’ve got one.
Designing a website is like writing an article. You have, in theory, a finite number of words/options in putting together your article/website. But combinations result in an infinite number of possibilities.
Even a rudimentary grasp of how to code a website leaves you with a bewildering array of choices. Knowing where to start and where to finish can be exhausting.
A case in point, is the navigation system.
You have to decide on:
- Positioning
- Colour Scheme
- Number of levels
- Images or text
- Static or moving
And of course, if you’re not satisfied with your own skills, there are a myriad of scripts available on the internet that can add a touch of style to your design.
And yet, with all the options, think of all the websites you’ve seen where the navigation system was unclear, cumbersome or just plain confusing. And let’s face it, we’re all easily confused when it comes to trying to understand someone elses vision of how navigation should be presented.
Trying something new or different shouldn’t be discouraged, but be sure you want to run the risk of turning away your bewildered visitors.
Keep the following points in mind:
1) Remember the purpose of your navigation system is to allow your visitors easy movement around your pages. Don’t let the range of possibilities distract you from this goal.
2) Keep the menu at the top, or left-hand side of your pages. This is where most people expect to find it.
3) If you have a lot of pages, consider a “drop-down” or “expanding” menu to make good use of space. Do a search on either of these terms to find a selection of free or cheap scripts you can use.
4) Keep the navigation consistent throughout your site. Nothing is more disorienting than a navigation system that varies from page to page, even slightly.
The easiest approach is to design the layout of your menu first and place the code at the top of all your pages. It’s an easy way to ensure that consistency is maintained and makes things easier if you need to make global changes.
If you want a simple test. Find the most confused person you know and ask them to navigate around your site without your assistance. If they get stuck, it’s time to rethink.
That said, I now intend to navigate my way back to bed. Goodnight.
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This article first appeared in The Nettle Ezine.
If you enjoyed it, why not try The Nettle Magazine at www.thenettle.com
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