Navigation structure can have a huge impact on acceptance rate, commitment, conversions, sales, and bounce rates. If users and vistors can’t figure out what to do when they get to an app, web or digital service or to a landing pages.
A navigation which is easy to use should be a top priority for designers and developers. The number one most annoying feature of a website is improper or confusing navigation, leaving users lost and wondering what to do next.
A clear and comprehensible navigation system is a key component to providing users and visitors with a usable interface, one that keeps them engaged until the user has achieved their purpose — and we’ve increased acceptance, conversion rates and joy of use rather than bounce rates and frustration.
It is the priority one and inevitable to think about, plan, and to have, and to maintain your system of ordering while you run your service – so that you always show a clear information architecture and clear hierarchical structure. Navigation menus should have a clear hierarchical structure with every category and clickable sub categories included in the menu.
Information architecture and navigation are the components of applications, digital goods and web services that support the user in finding information and in browsing through the content and functionalities. A well-designed navigation system is more than a good taxonomy: it encourages users, it increases productivity and joy of use.
Taxonomy, Terminology and conventions should be consistent with general web or business usage.
Good navigational feedback has to provide:
Category labels have to accurately describe the information in the category. And links and navigation labels contain should use "trigger words" that users will look for to achieve their goal. It is absolutely fine that if you have no landing page, or overview page or as we information architects often call the fork pages that these section headers or category headers are not clickable – but then the navigation should clearly indicate this by a color coding or clear different font or other visual style element.
When we talk about navigation there are two things – I call the lifebelts of Navigation ...
Breadcrumbs and Sitemaps
In general it is a good option to provide a site map that provides an overview of the site's content. The site map can but don’t have to reflect the same hierarchy and information architecture as the navigation. It is the easiest, the most often and the most logical and obvious way to organize a sitemap as the navigation - page by page and category by category. But all to often it is a supportive alternative to organize the page by process flow, or as most site structures reflect the enterprise’s ‘self-understanding’ it is a good option to do it as the visitor / the target – or user-group understand the content .
Breadcrumbs can show in general 3 different logics. Quite seldom it is that the breadcrumb shows the sequence of attributes. From time to time the user sees his / her individual path – how s/he got the current page. But most often breadcrumbs shows the hierarchy of the information architecture which means the breadcrumbs shows the navigation’s hierarchy. And that’s why I call breadcrumbs and sitemaps often lifebelt or safety buoy (each word of a breadcrumb path is a buoy which light the user the way back or tell him where s/he is) – or I often say a breadcrumbs (location-based) are pauper's oath / the admission of failure – because if the navigation whould do its job "Where am I right now?" there would be no Need for a breadcrumb - doing the same Job (in this context please check this older article: http://ux4dotcom.blogspot.com/2013/10/breadcrumb-secondary-navigation-aid.html ).
By the way what I like to stress out is that a navigation is not only for navigation – the purpose of a navigation is less the navigation because most often the primary actions or clickable content elements links the user to the next content. The main purpose of a navigation is the orientation.
Orientation, simply put, is how you orient yourself. It’s understanding what’s around you and what direction it’s in. Orientation is knowing where are you – what is the content all about, the section topic or category is directly above or behind you, and eventually there will be a related topics leading left or right or deeper that will take you to where you want to go.
Orientation concerns itself with all things surrounding a user and his role, not just the ones relevant to getting to a specific goal.
Where you show your navigation your navigation is up to you - but as you now know that a navigation has to provide orientation - you should not hide the options or the hierarchy behind a drop down menu or a back button.
By the way – that might sound very academical – and less creative – Be creative – Yes please invent something new - but keep in mind creating unconventional navigation will very often make the navigation confusing – and confused users are less likely to stay with your service, use your service any longer or suggest it to others.
A navigation which is easy to use should be a top priority for designers and developers. The number one most annoying feature of a website is improper or confusing navigation, leaving users lost and wondering what to do next.
A clear and comprehensible navigation system is a key component to providing users and visitors with a usable interface, one that keeps them engaged until the user has achieved their purpose — and we’ve increased acceptance, conversion rates and joy of use rather than bounce rates and frustration.
It is the priority one and inevitable to think about, plan, and to have, and to maintain your system of ordering while you run your service – so that you always show a clear information architecture and clear hierarchical structure. Navigation menus should have a clear hierarchical structure with every category and clickable sub categories included in the menu.
Information architecture and navigation are the components of applications, digital goods and web services that support the user in finding information and in browsing through the content and functionalities. A well-designed navigation system is more than a good taxonomy: it encourages users, it increases productivity and joy of use.
Taxonomy, Terminology and conventions should be consistent with general web or business usage.
Good navigational feedback has to provide:
- Where am I right now?
- Where am I from?
- Where can I go?
- What do I find here?
- How do I get back where I came from?
- How can I achieve my goal?
Category labels have to accurately describe the information in the category. And links and navigation labels contain should use "trigger words" that users will look for to achieve their goal. It is absolutely fine that if you have no landing page, or overview page or as we information architects often call the fork pages that these section headers or category headers are not clickable – but then the navigation should clearly indicate this by a color coding or clear different font or other visual style element.
When we talk about navigation there are two things – I call the lifebelts of Navigation ...
Breadcrumbs and Sitemaps
In general it is a good option to provide a site map that provides an overview of the site's content. The site map can but don’t have to reflect the same hierarchy and information architecture as the navigation. It is the easiest, the most often and the most logical and obvious way to organize a sitemap as the navigation - page by page and category by category. But all to often it is a supportive alternative to organize the page by process flow, or as most site structures reflect the enterprise’s ‘self-understanding’ it is a good option to do it as the visitor / the target – or user-group understand the content .
Breadcrumbs can show in general 3 different logics. Quite seldom it is that the breadcrumb shows the sequence of attributes. From time to time the user sees his / her individual path – how s/he got the current page. But most often breadcrumbs shows the hierarchy of the information architecture which means the breadcrumbs shows the navigation’s hierarchy. And that’s why I call breadcrumbs and sitemaps often lifebelt or safety buoy (each word of a breadcrumb path is a buoy which light the user the way back or tell him where s/he is) – or I often say a breadcrumbs (location-based) are pauper's oath / the admission of failure – because if the navigation whould do its job "Where am I right now?" there would be no Need for a breadcrumb - doing the same Job (in this context please check this older article: http://ux4dotcom.blogspot.com/2013/10/breadcrumb-secondary-navigation-aid.html ).
By the way what I like to stress out is that a navigation is not only for navigation – the purpose of a navigation is less the navigation because most often the primary actions or clickable content elements links the user to the next content. The main purpose of a navigation is the orientation.
Orientation, simply put, is how you orient yourself. It’s understanding what’s around you and what direction it’s in. Orientation is knowing where are you – what is the content all about, the section topic or category is directly above or behind you, and eventually there will be a related topics leading left or right or deeper that will take you to where you want to go.
Orientation concerns itself with all things surrounding a user and his role, not just the ones relevant to getting to a specific goal.
Where you show your navigation your navigation is up to you - but as you now know that a navigation has to provide orientation - you should not hide the options or the hierarchy behind a drop down menu or a back button.
By the way – that might sound very academical – and less creative – Be creative – Yes please invent something new - but keep in mind creating unconventional navigation will very often make the navigation confusing – and confused users are less likely to stay with your service, use your service any longer or suggest it to others.
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