http://perthwebsitedesigners.com/

The Principles of Excellent Website Navigation

There are a lot of reasons why many websites fail to achieve their purpose, or meet their specified

targets. One of these is poor navigation. According to a study made by Forrester Research, 50% of

potential sales are lost because web users cannot find the information they need, and 40% of users do

not return to a website when their initial visit gave them a negative experience. However, the good

news is that creating a successful navigation menu or system for a website is not hard to do. Here’s a

helpful guide on the principles of excellent website navigation.

Navigation Should Be Distinct & Simple

When creating a website’s navigation system or road-map, veteran Perth website designers stress that

the navigation buttons and tool bars should be visually separated and easy to find. The navigation

buttons must also not use the same colour, font and size as the body text, but should stand out instead.

To make a website navigable, the designer should help site visitors quickly see what information is

available, and where to go to find them, on autopilot. If the visitor has to think real hard about what to

do or where to go, then he or she should be considered a lost customer.

The Navigation Model Should be Consistent & Clear

When designing websites, the same navigation model should be used in all pages. It’s because without a

consistent design, the user could think that he or she is in another website. The site’s menu links should

also exactly do what they say. Thus, designers should use simple and obvious terms, as well as use those

that are easy to figure out.

The site’s text should also be kept short and descriptive, and direct to the point. Never ever leave your

visitors solving a puzzle or riddle, because they won’t bother, and they’ll rate this as one nasty user

experience.

It Should Be Descriptive & Concise

When designing a website, it would be best to avoid using generic terms or captions, which do nothing

to communicate with site visitors e.g., “Services” or “Products”. Always make it a point to make site

visitors know in advance what the website’s products or services are.

Web designers also need to remember that too many items in the main menu disperse, or scatter, a

visitor’s attention. This explains why it’s important to remove less important details, make the more

important ones more prominent, and make users more focused on the most important links.

In addition, creative web design experts also stress that designers plan their navigation along with the

website information architecture, so they could figure out what key features the website offers, what’s

important and what’s not, and what could be safely placed in the information hierarchy’s lower levels.