When talking about navigating a website, there are 3 important questions a visitor may be concerned with:
- Where am I?
- Where do I want to go?
- Where have I already been?
Whether someone has come to your site with a specific goal in mind, or they just want to browse around, it should be clear to them how to work their way through. Failure to effectively address these questions may lead to someone’s decision to abandon your site.
Navigation is much more than a few main page links listed near the top of the page. It’s an entire system of links, labels, and website discovery that is carefully weaved throughout all aspects of your site. I’ll outline a few basics that you should keep in mind when developing or optimizing your website.
- Clearly define your main pages. Typically, links to your main level pages appear near the top of every page in a horizontal or vertical grouping. These can be designed many ways such as plain text links, tabs, buttons, icons, etc. The key is that they’re in a predictable location, stand out enough visually, and use obvious labels like “Home”, “Services”, “Contact Us”, etc.
- Make your links within the body content look like links. Traditionally, hyperlinked text is blue and underlined. Today, it’s common and accepted to see links in different colors, underlined or not, as long as it stands out from the body text. Another good rule of thumb is to have a rollover state where the style of the text changes when you hover over it. This applies to linked images as well.
- Use detailed text to give the user an idea of where the link goes. Hyperlinking the phrase “Click here” isn’t as clear as “Find out more about our products.”
- Write descriptive page headings. Let your visitor know what page they’re on by using a Page Title Heading that is related to the nav link clicked to get there and that describes the general content on the page.
- Highlight the nav item of the current page. It’s a good idea to style a main navigation button differently when actually on that page. This helps to distinguish the page you’re on from others in the menu.
- Include a search field and a site map link. Okay, so this is really 2 tips. Providing a way to enter a custom search, or listing out every page on a site using a site map, may be helpful for someone looking quickly for something specific.
- Style visited links differently. Especially on larger sites or even a smaller one that someone may spend some time on, differentiating links of pages they’ve already been to may be helpful. This can be achieved many ways. A couple of examples would be to set the text color different, or provide an icon next to the link.
Today it’s almost more common that people enter your site through an internal page as a result of a Google search or perhaps a link from another webpage. No longer can we assume that the Home page will be the starting point. As a result, you’ll want to ensure your navigation is consistent throughout your site. Attention to these details will make it easier for someone to find what they’re looking for and may promote repeat visits and business.
