Website navigation is the overall term given to any internal linking between the WebPages and the process a visitor goes through to access the content. It is one of the key components of a website. Here are some points to keep your navigation effective and concise.
- It should be Simple – Whether you have a handful pages or a thousand of pages, website navigation should be simple and easy to use. It is important for the success of your website; the easier you can make it for a user to navigate around the site, the happier they will be. Here are few methods for designing simple yet effective navigation.
- Design a website layout in such a way that it allows various sections on a page to display important pages of the site and links.
- Use drop down menu for each categories.
- Use sidebars to expand the section of the website.
- Use a horizontal list of links leading to the homepage URL, privacy policy and contact us information at the bottom of the page.
- Ensure that links to the homepage are displayed on every page.
- Keep it Consistent – Site navigation buttons should maintain the same type, style and colors. It should also appear in the same location on every page of a site. This will enable users to feel comfortable while browsing the site and to get used to it.
- Page Footer – It can be annoying for the user to scroll from the bottom to the top of a long page to find the navigation links. Therefore, having navigation links in the page footer will be convenient for the user.
- Navigation Buttons Name – Label the navigation button such that it should clearly state what lies behind them. Stick to the obvious button names like back, forward, start, end, etc. to avoid confusion.
- Sitemap – A site map is a textual or a visual organized model of a site content that allows the users to navigate through the site to find the information they are looking for. It is very useful for visitors, who are looking for one specific page and do not want to search around. It is also like a readable database for a search engine to find all of your pages instantaneously. Therefore, include a sitemap in your website layout for good website navigation.
