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Joy Gems Newsletter

Navigation Tips - Moving About In Infospace

By Bud Kraus
bud@joyofcode.com
Joy Of Code
Creator And Instructor

v2 i2
Originally Published: January 19, 2006

Perhaps the single most important element of any web site is its navigation interface because it controls the user's ability to get around in a web site's information space. Users don't want to spend any time figuring out what a site is about or how to get around it.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you develop or re-design a site. It's not all inclusive - just a few gems to remember.

1. Just A Click Away?

With small and mid-size web sites, I'm always aware of how many mouse clicks it takes to get from one page to another. Do I needlessly have to click 3 times to get to something important? Address and resolve these issues before your site goes into production.

Any page should be no more than 2 clicks away, especially if there is no search tool on your site. Ideally, sites should allow you to go from one page to any other with just one click.

2. Is Your Information Organized From The General To The Specific?

The top level of your site, your home page, ought to house the most general information pertaining to your site. You should get that "drill down" feeling as you click from the home to one level (one click) beneath it. The farther (i.e., the more clicks) you roam from home, the more specific that page's information needs to be.

Besides organizing your information from general to specific, you must still ensure that no matter what page I first land on in your site I get a good idea of the site's content and where I am in it.

3. Are You Making Use Of Bread Crumbs?

One reasonably good method of orienting your users is by using "bread crumbs."

Here's what a typical bread crumb (navigation path) on a given page might look like:

Home » Page One Level Below Home »

That's a bread crumb. You've no doubt seen more than a few. It's a great aid that tells you what page you're on in relation to other (higher) pages.

4. Are You Using A Site Map?

Another good idea for a site is a page where all the links of the site are shown on one page - a site map. The links need to be organized in the order in which the site is navigated, that is, you should visually represent where the pages are in relation to the home page and to each other.

By way of example I offer up the site map to joyofcode.com.

5. What Do You Do When You Remove A Page From Your Site?

Do you have a strategy to deal with what happens when a user lands on a page which no longer exists? Will they get a "Page Not Found" error message, or are they intelligently directed to an alternative page?

There are several methods to solve this problem ranging from a static page with a "This page no longer exists and has been replaced with..." message, to writing a server-side script which automatically redirects your visitors to an alternative page.

5. Do Any Of Your Links Self-Refer?

I hate when I select (click on) a link and it takes me nowhere other than to refresh the browser. What a waste of time and bandwidth! Plus, it falsely inflates the number of times visitors have eyeballed a page.

I'll take the "Fifth" on this one, but I know several techniques to spare users of this nuisance. That's for a future issue of Joy Gems.