Website and Graphic Design
Website and Graphic Design
This article was first published on July 13, 1998.
How the user will find information.
A Web Site with good navigation, combined with good organisation, will enable people find the information quickly, which may be one factor that brings people back to your Web Site. If the Web Site's structure is well organised then the Navigation will be easier to prepare.
There are various ways to introduce navigation to a site. The simplest and often the best is to have simple plain text links to other pages and/or sections prominently displayed on each page.
Frames, which split the Browser Window into two or more independent sections, can be used for navigation. Not everyone likes them, this is more than likely because Frames have been overused or poorly designed on a multitude of Web Sites. Using careful programming Frames can enhance the Navigation of a Web Site mainly because the links are always visible to the user. For instance you might have the top inch (couple of centimetres) of the window used for navigation and the rest of the window is used for displaying your information. When the viewer wants to go to a different part of your Web Site they can use a link in the top Frame and the information will be shown in the bottom Frame, leaving the top the same and ready for the user should they choose to view another page listed.
If there are lot of different sections on a Web Site two separate Frames can be used for navigation, and a third to display the information. One navigation Frame can be used to move between section and the other used to select pages within that section.
Icons or ideograms can be used to navigate around a Web Site. An arrow could be used to represent a link to the next page, a picture of a house to represent the Home page, and so on. Keeping icons simple will make them easier to understand and they will download faster than more adventurous graphics.
Consider the following to assist your choice of navigation;
September 7, 2010
