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2. Layout & Navigation
Every person reading this article has had the experience of entering a Web site, clicking around a bit, and suddenly saying..."Where the heck am I?" It's like camping: Good Web navigation design means always knowing where you are.
By developing a clear, easy to use navigation system for your Web site, whether it is a small or large site, you will ensure that your users can access the major areas of your site easily. Imagine you're in a museum at an exhibit. You enter the first room, and it seems completely clear to you which direction to go in, and the flow of traffic of visitors moves seamlessly and effortlessly through the space. You have experienced good navigation design. It's similar with Web sites.
There are many different techniques to designing successful navigation. Using color is a good way to give your visitors clues about where they are in your Web site. If you color code each major area of the site, your visitor can click several layers deep and still know where he or she is; then, if you link into another section, the colors will tell him or her that they have moved into a different area.
Another of Gif Girl's mantras: Naming is Navigation. If your Web site's sections aren't well named, then your users are going to have a hard time finding what they are looking for. For instance, if you name your personal contact information area "Contact Me," it's pretty clear what that section contains. Conversely, naming it "Wassup" doesn't send out as clear a message.
Consistency of navigation is also important, and this is where layout comes into play. Imagine if every time you got into your car, your brake pedal was in a different place. Not only would this be highly annoying, but it would be pretty unsafe as well! Reserving an area (ex: the top left corner of the Web browser) for your navigational elements will let visitors easily find the way to back up or move onto the next area without having to search around each time.
next: Graphic Design & Visual Identity>>
What IS Web Design, Anyway?
<<back to intro
1. Information architecture
2. Layout & Navigation
3. Graphic Design & Visual Identity
Gif Girl, when she isn't out saving the world from dithered graphics and illegible Web pages, helps keep Tripod's pages running fast and furious.
Send your comments, ideas, suggestions, and of course, your solutions for saving the world from bad Web page design, to Gif Girl. She'd love to hear from you.
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