| |
| |
|
Keep Your Navigation Consistent!
One of the single most important aspects of effective navigation is consistency. Why? There's a simple reason. Visitors want familiarity. They are more comfortable and more trusting if they know things are going to remain the same from page to page. They have a certain sense of confidence from knowing what to expect. If a visitor can quickly become familiar with your navigation, it's much simpler to actually navigate. And of course, that's the whole purpose of navigation, right? Besides familiarity, there's a second reason to be consistent. It helps your credibility. Consistency in your navigation helps you present a unified, cohesive image to your visitors. In other words, you look polished, well-thought-out, and on top of things. Your visitors get the impression that you "have it together". On the other hand, if your navigation is inconsistent, it reflects badly on you and your company. You'll look disorganized and unprofessional. Here are 3 ways to maintain consistency in your navigation: 1. Use global navigation (which is a set of your main links that appears on every page of your site in the same place). Global navigation is an absolute necessity. It ensures that visitors can always get to the main sections of your website quickly and easily. Global navigation options must be the same on every page. Many sites resoundingly fail in this area. Often, the order of the links varies from page to page, or some links are missing on certain pages. This confuses even experienced web users. 2. Keep the appearance and placement of buttons and secondary links the same throughout the site. I recently ran across a site that used three completely different styles of buttons in as many pages. This variation blew any unified appearance they hoped to have. It also made it hard to recognize which graphics were links and which were not, since there was no consistently-used symbol for "clickability". On another site, secondary navigation options were on the left on some pages and on the right on other pages. That's a no-no. Visitors will never be sure where to look for additional options, particularly since this site was visually busy. Don't move links around from page to page. Link colors, button styles, fonts, and placement should be the same throughout the site. The goal should be for visitors to instantly recognize a link when they see it. 3. Stick with conventional design standards. In addition to being consistent within your site, you also need to be consistent with other sites. Don't get too far out on the fringe in trying new things. If you use a navigation scheme that's completely different from what you see on most other sites, visitors will likely be confused. Make your navigation look and function like something visitors will be familiar with from other sites. About The Author There are 605.6 million people online. Can they find your business? Jamie Kiley creates powerful and engaging websites that make sure YOUR company gets noticed. Visit http://www.kianta.com for a free quote. Get a quick, free web design tip every two weeks--sign up for Jamie's newsletter: http://www.kianta.com/newsletter.php
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Cheap Web Design If you think it's simply a case of who will do it for the best price, think again.As with many things we buy there are several important factors to take into account. The Key to Getting More Magic Shows Booked Online This article is the result of a conversation I had with a magician about his website. He wanted to know if I could build him a nice looking site that had his name and contact information on it. Web Design: How To Get Your Visitors To Stay Remember the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come"? In the world of Internet marketing, you not only want them to come, you want them to stay.The Internet is fast-paced. Using Your Personal Website To Clinch That Job! With an increasing number of employment portals emerging, it is apparent that internet tools do help bring the job-seeker and the potential employer together. A sophisticated job search engine enables the job-seeker to have a smaller sample of relevant job openings instead of going through countless newspaper advertisements. Text Is King! Are you building your website? If so, STOP! Take a look at what you have done so far. How many images do you have? How much text do you have?If your website has more images than text then you could be in trouble. Discover 7 Proven Shopping Cart Enhancements to Increase Your Sales For online businesses with their main goal of selling products, shopping cart abandonment can mean the difference between profitability and loss. But since recent surveys suggest that less than 50% of retailers know their shopping cart abandonment rate, let's review what it is and why it is important to know. Tips For An Effective Website A successful website is something that everyone venturing into the new arena of Internet marketing and communications wants to have. Your website will often be a potential client's first impression of you and your business. How To Start An Internet Business - Designing For Usefulness The first step to starting any Internet business is conducting keyword research to determine if there is any interest in your idea. Once you identify a need, it's time to consider what your site should look like. The Newbie's Guide to Small Business Web Design You've got a concept for a business, are excited about putting it out on the Internet, know a little bit about computers and the Internet, but know nothing about building a web site, or web design.You can still be highly successful and save money by doing the job yourself so long as you've got the willingness to learn and the time to spend on the project. 9 Ways to Gain Your Visitors Respect The internet is filled with sites and they are good and bad. Some have beenknown for a long time and some still struggle to get the respect and fame they think they deserve. Business Opportunity for Graphic Designers As a graphic designer, you are sitting on a gold mine. Youhave a skill other people do not have, and you can use thatskill to earn a good living. Build It And Build It Cheap! There are several very good reasons why you should consider building your own web site versus having someone do it for you. It's more cost efficient, you can make it much larger in content, you are more involved in how you want the pages to look, and I have actually enjoyed learning the dos and don'ts of website profiling. Web Design Tips To Boost Your Sales The way you design your web site affects your visitors' online experience. As each visitor to your site is a potential customer, the easier they find your web site to use and the more they enjoy being on it, the higher the chance that they will make a purchase. How To Create A Homepage That Works Want to know what the worst thing to say on a homepage is?"Welcome to our homepage."And yet, time after time, we all come across such homepages on the Internet. Flash Doesnt Always Add Shine to Web Efforts The trend today to overuse animation in a website's opening pages only serves to confirm that style often overshadows substance. Sometimes a "flash" in the pan - often courtesy of Macromedia Corp. A Great Banner Only Needs Simple Things To create your own great banner, you only need five (5) simple things:1. Size according to standards. How to Hire The Right Web Design Firm Regardless whether you manage a small business, charitable organization, or Fortune 500 company, choosing the right web design firm can quickly become a full-time research project. With thousands of design firms to choose from, what factors truly determine which design firm is best for your business?The primary considerations for choosing a web design firm are:* Price* Customer service/access to support* Credibility indicators of the design firm* Portfolio and design experience* Other services offered (domain renewal, hosting, SEO)* Turnaround timeLet's take a closer look at each consideration in detail, and explore how to identify and qualify the right design firm. Why Your Site Should be Developed with CSS and Semantic Markup Why your site should be developed with CSS and semantic markupOne thing that I have learned in over a decade developing web sites is that the Net is continually changing, and to keep up you need to change with it. One of the more recent developments in web design is the use of CSS and semantic markup. Why Should You Care About Your Web Site Colors? **How Colors are Used in web design:**Demarcates screen elements into groups- You can pu a blue background for your navagational bar and white for rest of your page. This tells the visitor that the blue area has different elements and grabs his attention. Your Free Guide To Obtain A Cheap Web Design Quote Website design is a very competitive area and there is no longer any reason why people should pay large amounts for web design services.This article describes and explains where to find very very cheap web design services.
|
| home | site map |
| Webdesign-box © 2006 |