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DOTCOMOLOGY AND PROFIT GLORY
GETTING
STARTED
MAKING YOUR WEBSITE ATTRACTIVE, INTERESTING, ENGAGING AND
INTERACTIVE
Build It for Speed, Target your Market, Focus the
Site, Credibility Is Crucial, Navigation should be simple,
Consistency is the key, Content is King, Make your website
interactive and personalized.
NAVIGATION
Objectives of a Navigation System
Navigation, Location Indicators, Navigation Controls And Leads to obvious content.
DEFINING A USABLE SITE
Good Content is Critical,
Ease of Access to Information,
Quick Access to Information,
Cleanly Designed Pages,
Download Status And
Usability Problems
BUILDING INTERACTIVITY AND PERSONALIZATION
Navigation.
The aim of a website's navigation is simply to allow
users to get to the content they require. For sites that have a
large number of sections and web pages (and information sites can be
one of these) the navigation plan has to be properly researched and
designed. You have to consider different types of visitors and
simulate the most common steps they would take to find what they
want on your site,
and the navigation plan has to optimize this movement. For example,
the steps required from searching a catalog of items, selecting from
the catalog, adding them to a shopping cart, proceeding to check
out, to entering the payment particulars is a specific sequence that
should be facilitated by the navigation system. If the sequence is
haphazard, it could lead to frustration or the user may miss an
important step and
you would have an aborted sale.
To find their way about, users need to know two things:
- Where they are now
- How to go elsewhere
Navigation does not exist in isolation; good site organization is a
prerequisite for a coherent navigation system.
Objectives of a Navigation System
Navigation can be broken into two primary types: Location 1Indicators and Navigation Controls.
Location Indicators Location indicators let users know where they are in the site at
the moment. You need to keep in mind that users coming from outside
your site can enter at any page, not necessarily on a main page.
They
need to be able to orientate themselves quickly.
Equally, it is important that users navigating around your site
have a clear idea of where they are both in absolute terms and in
relation to other content.
Location information should appear on every page of the site, in
the same place and in the same style. Location indicators should
tell
the user precisely where they are and this should be clear even to a
user who has entered the site at an internal page. The location
indicator should be identifiable for what it is and make sense in
the
context of other navigation.
In simple sites a page banner - text or graphic - naming the page
will be sufficient. For this to work the page name should also
appear in
the main navigation so that it is relevant within the overall
structure of
the site.
Color can be used. For example a different color background,
contrast color or sidebar in each part of the site. To be really
effective
the color change should be reflected in the navigation.
Using “breadcrumbs” on every page is a good idea. Breadcrumbs
show you a series of hierarchical links that you have used to go
from
page to page within a section. Using breadcrumbs is like leaving a
trail
of the path you have followed.
The breadcrumbs appear at the top of
the content section, just below the main navigation template. Each
element in the breadcrumb is a link to that section or subsection.
This
helps in avoiding a series of back buttons allowing the user to
directly
go back to the main section page or another sub section. More
importantly, it always shows the context of the page that is being
viewed and how it belongs to a section or sub-section.
Navigation Controls
Navigation controls are the main navigation links; they allow
users to move around the site. Whether they comprise images or text
they should be predictably located in the same place, and with the
same appearance, on each page.
These have several purposes
To allow users to move about within the site
To tell users what information is available at the link
To work with location indicators to orientate users
A good navigation control:
Is clear: it looks like navigation
Leads to obvious content - users have a good idea what
they will find if they click
Is consistent with other navigation controls
Is predictable in its style and location on the page
There is no mystery to usability. It simply involves creating a
site,
which is accessible to the majority of people, is easy to use and
get
around and delivers on its promises. You can have a site that meets
the most important standards of usability by planning it well and
always keeping the end user in mind. Remember that websites should
not be designed for their owners - they should be designed for their
users.
Problems with usability could be said to stem from just two
sources: the site itself and the user. In fact, the site is always
at fault
if a visitor (however experienced or inexperienced) has problems
navigating, getting information or understanding the site.
While websites have become far more complex, web users have
become less experienced because more and more new people go
online every day. It is a mistake to think that the majority of
users will
be web or even computer savvy and will understand subtle clues about
content. Many won’t, so make your site as easy to use as possible.
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Next:
Defining a Usable Site A usable site will,
Help users achieve a goal, usually to find something, such as
information, or obtain something, such as a book. |