Two Tips to Maximise Navigation Design The way you design your website’s navigation layout will determine how the entire site functions for its users. You build everything else upon the foundation. If you get it wrong, it can spell disaster for the entire site. If you want to maximise your site for sales, user experience, user engagement, and functionality, you need to plan your foundations carefully. You need to establish the rules that guide audience participation and use. It must be logical and intuitive. Get it right, and you're website will flourish. What Do We Mean By Navigation? Navigation is like an interactive map of the site. It involves the signposts, roads, paths, avenues, and verges your customers use to get around the site. Imagine a town like those you find in America. Everything is clearly signposted; everyone knows which route to take to find their destination; it flows and it works.
Now, imagine some of the old towns in the UK. They’re confusing; do you take a left at that roundabout or this one; is this a one-way or a two-way; what does that sign say it’s so old and battered and it appears to be facing the wrong way. The American town eposes the rules of good navigation, while the UK one doesn’t. It’s understandable, given the respective age and history of each country, but nonetheless, one is confusing and the other is intuitive. Navigation also involves directing the customers where you want them to go. This is equivalent to the signposts on the road. It tells people which way to go. With web design, you use ‘signposts’ to direct your customers to the areas of the site you want them to visit, e.g. a special offers page. Tip 1: Plan Your Content Layout The way you plan your content will determine how you create your site navigation. Think about it, it’s only by knowing what type of content you are going to use, and where you are
going to put it, that you can start to direct people towards it in a logical and progressive order. You need to consider content from the perspective of your user. If you find it hard to do this, then ask your users directly. Ask yourself the following questions to determine layout patterns: 1. What pages do you require for the site? For instance, all sites require a landing page,
and most have ‘home page’, ‘about page’, ‘product page’, etc. 2. Are the pages relevant and is information concise and easy to read? 3. Is there space to add content later? This is particularly relevant for blog pages. 4. How do your users engage with the site? What are they looking for? Have you provided it?
Tip 2: Simplicity Works Best It is better to keep your navigation simple. Simplicity will reflect to the users. If it is too complex, they may be turned off by the site: few people want to come online and then spend half an hour trying to work something out, when they can just go to a competitor and have everything they want at their fingertips.
Too many choices, too much content and too much information, can easily overwhelm people. When they feel overwhelmed, they’re likely to bounce right off the site. If you do need to create something complex, you need to at least give the illusion that it’s simple. Various techniques can help you do this. We recommend speaking with an ecommerce web design London agency, as they will be able to provide precise information, or actually undertake the work for you. If you would like further help and advice about the problems of navigation in web design, then please visit our official website.
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