Planning your Navigation - Part 2

Make your Site User-Friendly

Good web sites have similar navigational layouts, for the same reason books have a table of contents. People know straight away where to look for information and how to find their way around.

Starting each major section with its own contents page shows what information that area contains. Similarly, by making your banner a different color in each section your visitors can easily identify what area they are in.

A site map can act as a table of contents for your web site. Like the table of contents of a book, they show the main pages and information in your site.

When creating hyperlinks be sure to give the user an idea of what they will find at the other end. It helps to provide a brief description of the page they’re linking to in just a few words.

Every page should have a link back to your home page and your email address. Add a mail link by placing your email address in the mailto tag: <a href="mailto:you@youraddress.com">.

Lastly, if your site is over 40 pages you may need to start thinking about providing a search feature. You can find a search facility to add to your site from our Script Locker.