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Navigation - What makes a good one?

by David Stanley    

Navigation is one of the key elements of any web site. Here are some pointers on making your navigation a successful one.

GLOBAL. Your site (especially if it is a larger one) should have a global navigation. That is your visitors should be able to get to a different area on your site within 2 navigation clicks. HTMlite is an example of this. You are able to enter any different area on this site within a couple of clicks. The navigation is very similar (or the same) on each page.

BACK. This refers to the BACK button on the browser tool bar. NEVER have your visitor rely on using this button as a means of navigating your site. Refer to the above GLOBAL paragraph for a correct use of navigation.

FRAMES. Be sure to have your frames links working correctly. Have the main contents loading in the correct area. Have the outside links open into a new window or the full current one.

CLARITY. Be sure your navigation is very clear on its function. There are too many sites out there using a wierd image or layout for navigation leaving it up to the visitor to "guess" on what the link will do or go. Visit the WebPagesThatSuck site and find Mystery Meat Navigation. They go much further into the misuse of bad navigation types.
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com

The common PREVIOUS, BACK, FORWARD, NEXT type navigation is ok, but a more descriptive word would be much better.

Article by David Stanley. Visit his site http://www.htmlite.com. Reprinted with permission.