JinaBrito

Web surfers are basically an impatient bunch and if a website is hard to figure out because the links are not obvious, they will click away never to return. Website navigation is one of the most crucial elements in determining the effectiveness of a website. This article discuses the basic principle of designing website navigation.
To be effective website navigation must first and foremost make sense to the average person. While there is always room for creativity, well-designed websites tend to have similar navigation layouts.
As a web designer you must always keep in mind the basic purpose of the website and the intended audience when designing navigational elements. Most websites exist to either inform the visitor about a product or service or to actually sell the product or service. Therefore there are some basic guidelines to follow:
Make sure all navigational elements are clearly links by using standard conventions for links such as buttons, menus, underlining the text or changing color on mouse. Resist the temptation to use clever or ambiguous names for links.
When using non-conventional links, explicitly tell the visitor that this is a link. For example, suppose you design a web page where you want to use a map showing several different cities and want to let the user click on the city name to pull up information about that city. Just make sure you tell the user to click on the city name to get more information about that city.
Remember the “Three Click Rule” that most professional web designers use. Studies have shown that most users will not click more than three links to get to the information they want. So every page on your website should be reachable within three clicks.
does not recommend using a flash movie or other type of splash page on your website. Keep the web page design simple yet attractive. But if you do decide to use one, make certain you use the META REFRESH tag to take the visitor automatically to your home page after a few seconds and provide a clickable, clearly marked button or link so the visitor can skip the entry page and go directly to your home page otherwise a large percentage of visitors will just click away never to return. Remember most visitors are looking for information not entertainment.

jpmaster

And that is exactly what I tell my customers, but.... do they listen? Sometimes they insist and push their way even though that way is a dead end.

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JPmaster aka Sisyser.com

David

While the topic is a good idea, this smells like spam. The post looks copy and paste from notepad, missing a lot of spacing and formating to make this easily readable.

As for splash pages and flash navigation, I agree that they are pretty stupid in most cases. Don't introduce me to your welding business website, just take me there! Also, don't run through a series of animated magic and flash loading before I can use your navigation.

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I'm a web designer that founded the company Asheboro Creative. You can follow me on Twitter, add me on Myspace, or read my articles on Asheboro Tech.

Brandt

I was thinking it looked like Spam as well, but could build into a useful thread for someone.

Flash has it's time and place, and I agree that navigation should not be it. Splash pages should obviously be used with discretion. That nav scares me btw David haha

Mark

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Mark
Surpass Hosting Developer
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