Effective website navigation

If you go to a site and can't find what you're looking for or figure out how the site is organised, you're not likely to stay long - or come back.

Breadcrumbs show you where you are

For most web sites, breadcrumbs alone are not a good navigation scheme. Done right, breadcrumbs are self-explanatory, they don't take up much room, and they provide a convenient, consistent way to do two of the things you need to do most often: back up a level or go Home.

Breadcrumbs are best used as an accessory to a solid navigational scheme, particularly for a large site with a deep hierarchy.

Breadcrumb navigation contains hyperlinks that reflect a web site's category hierarchy in sequential order, providing context and cues about where the visitor is located within the web site.

Designing for a search box

Given the potential power of searching and the number of people who prefer searching to browsing, unless a site is very small and very well organised, every page should have either a search box or a link to a search page.

When you design your navigation system and create your page architecture, keep in mind recent usability studies that show that users expect to find a search box at the top of the page - in particular, at the center of the top of the page, or at the top-left of the page.

If you've determined that you don't need a search feature, bear in mind the impact of adding a search box to your site at a later date; therefore, consider reserving an area for the search box: leave it blank, or considering using a decorative holding image of some kind.

Users find it extremely frustrating when a web site's search tool provides inaccurate or unhelpful results. Make sure you test your search facility well, and customise it closely to your users' needs.

• Ensure that search results are sorted to present the best matches first.
• Organise search results in groups according to the web site structure
• Keep page abstracts short on search results pages
• For advanced search, provide brief, helpful instructions
• Allow users to search within their current results to help narrow their search
• Provide helpful options when a search yields no results
• Make sure your search results program eliminates duplications within search results list

Visible return to Home route

One of the most crucial items in the persistent (global) navigation is a button or link that takes a user to the site's home page.

Having a Home button in sight at all times offers reassurance that no matter how lost a user may get, they can always start over, like pressing a Reset button.

• include a Home page link on every page in either the Sections or Utilities menu
• double up your Site ID as a button that can take a user to the site's Home page
• add the word "Home" to the Site ID everywhere but the Home page to let people know that it's clickable

Finally, Create a sitemap

A sitemap typically is a concise, one-page outline of the architecture of the entire site, which links to main content categories and subcategories. The design of a sitemap greatly influence its usability. To ensure that yours is both user-friendly and effective, follow these guidelines:

• create a sitemap for sites of more than fifteen pages
• create your sitemap with text based links rather than graphical
• make sure your sitemap reinforces your site's information hierarchy
• ensure that your sitemap provides easy, quick, direct access to your web site content
• finally, make sure that your sitemap supplements any existing navigation, rather than being a last resort for user, or an excuse for poor global navigation

Remember: A web site navigation system needs to provide visitors with an easy and convenient way to explore and move through your web site.