Why You Should Think City Centre For Your Website Navigation
Good website navigation is like good city planning
. Make the infrastructure easy to use and visitors can quickly find their way around. However, without clear signposts and well-built paths, people will get frustrated and be unable to reach what they need.
Here are a few ways to help your site navigation work like a well-greased city centre machine:
Use plain English
When you get to a junction, do you see a stop sign or a sign that says velocity reduction point?
Avoid unusual language - it only serves to confuse users. Similarly, avoid using insider jargon. Just because your company calls something by a particular name doesn't mean your user does.
When it comes to simple navigation cues, try and stick to terms like 'home', 'about', 'add to cart', 'contact' and 'buy' instead of wacky alternatives.
Have consistent primary navigation
Keep the main (primary) navigation consistent throughout your site. If your nav bar moves around from page to page, you're only going to confuse the user.
Most sites prefer a vertical left-adjusted, or top horizontal navigation. This is partly because of
website design convention, and partly because it has been shown in eye tracking studies that people naturally look at the top left part of the screen first.
Clicking the logo should take you to the homepage
This has become a web standard. Most people expect that clicking the logo = home. If it doesn't, it's the equivalent of pressing a pedestrian crossing button at a busy road and nothing happening it'll confuse and annoy.
Make the link destination obvious
Road signs tell a driver which direction they're headed. The same should apply to your website hyperlinks.
Users aren't looking to be surprised at a link destination. They want to know where they're going. Text such as click here or more don't tell a reader where they will go to next. Instead, use links like get a free quote or add to cart or similarly descriptive phrases.
Also the format and colour of your hyperlinks shouldn't change throughout the site. Stick to one style. That way, when people see it, they know it's a link.
Tell the user where they are
One thing a lot of
web developers forget is that a user can enter at any point in the website not just the homepage.
You should use visual cues to let visitors know where they are on the site. For example, the corresponding primary navigation button may be a different colour when you're on that page.
Alternatively, use clear breadcrumbs. These let the user know the path that have taken through the subcategories of a site.
For example, a breadcrumb trail for an ecommerce site might be:
Electronics -> Computers -> Laptops -> Apple -> MacBook Pro
Think clarity
If you always think from the user's perspective and aim for maximum clarity, you'll make it easier for your visitors. That way, you'll avoid making your customers feel like they're lost in a knot of unfamiliar roads, and more like they're easing down clear paths towards their desired destination.
by: oliverp
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