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In order to make sure users can easily find their way on your site,
you need a navigation everybody understands. The navigation has to
be in the right place, users have to be familiar with the terms used
in it and it has to be consistent in the way it looks and works,
even in the smallest detail.
Where to put your navigation
Navigation is an often used element of a site. Because most sites
put their navigation on the left or top of the page, that is where
users have come to expect it to be. Sites like Philips that spread
their navigation over three different bars (one on the left, two at
the top of the page) confuse users rather than show them the way. A
navigation on the bottom of the page, like on the Nivea site, isn't
very handy either. Make it easy on your users, follow the standard
and put your navigation on the top or left side of the page.
Unity
Users' expectations aren't limited to the place of the navigation,
they also pertain to the terminology used. Don't get creative but
use standard terms for standard site elements like 'Home', 'Contact
Us' and 'Site Map'. Use clear, unmistakable terms for site-specific
elements as well. (See our article 'Navigation: use clear
terminology' for more information.) Don't experiment with the order
of the items. 'Home' traditionally comes first, followed by your
site-specific offering. Things like 'Site Map', 'Help', 'Jobs' and
'Contact Us' are typically placed at the end. Try to establish a
logical order in your site-specific navigation elements. Users
expect things that belong together to be placed together. To make
sure the order of the items makes sense to your users, the best
thing you can do is throw your company's organisational chart out of
the window and see what your company has to offer from the users'
point of view. If your site addresses different target audiences it
is best to group the information per target audience. Users
appreciate it when a site structures its content, like Miele does,
because it saves them the time of having to do it themselves.
Consistency
Not only is it very important that a navigation works the way users
expect it to work, it also imperative that it always works in
exactly the same way. First of all, make sure all your navigation
items are clickable. If you choose to have a sub-navigation, make
sure the titles of the categories are clickable and lead to a page
that offers users an overview of what they can find in this
particular category. This may seem very logical, but many sites make
mistakes in this area. On the site of Seghers
Group for example some main navigation items like 'better
technology' and 'better in life sciences' are clickable and lead to
a special page while others like 'Contact' and 'jobs and MORE' just
open a sub-navigation bar and don't lead anywhere. This is very
confusing for users.
Els Aerts & Karl Gilis
A more in depth version of this article
has appeared in
Tips & Advies Online Ondernemen, year 5, number 15 (Belgium and
the Netherlands).
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