Navigating a Website with Ease

Name: Navigating a Website with Ease
Author: Anne Ross

Create websites that enable users to navigate with ease

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 3 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Have you ever gotten lost on a website? Or been unable to find a page you previously visited? This is frustrating for any user. Website navigation is an essential part of web design. Good website navigation enhances the user experience by presenting a pleasant, intuitive layout while increasing ease of use, which allows users to access the information they want, as quickly as possible. Website navigation is the act of clicking and looking through resources on the internet such as the various pages that make up a website. Users navigate websites using a web browser and clicking on the links that transport them to other pages when they're clicked. Some links are internal, meaning they connect to pages within the same website. Others are external, which connect to pages on other sites. Websites normally feature menus or organized set of links that guide users through their various pages. Menus should be intuitive to optimize ease of use. They normally appear horizontally at the top of the homepage or vertically on the side. Website navigation is important for five main reasons. First, they should present a clean structured look. This is because a website can be the online face of an organization. A well structured, user friendly site could suggest that the organization is the same. Second, menus can influence users' feelings. Well designed navigation helps users find the information they need quickly and self sufficiently. A user who encounters no obstacles in their search for data is more likely to regard the website and the organization by extension positively. Menus increase visit duration. When a site is easy to navigate it can encourage users to stay on it longer, explore further, and learn more about the organization. Alternatively, a site that is difficult to navigate may encourage users to click away from the page or even the website and move on to something else. Menus can improve search engine optimization. Good navigation allows search engines to crawl and index a website more effectively, which can make it easier for users to find the site with search queries. This can also lead to higher placement in search results and menus increase purchase rates. Good navigation means that users can easily find what they want on a site and users who effortlessly find products or services they need are more likely to purchase them. Both design and functional factors impact the quality of website navigation. The menu placement is very important. Users are likely to expect to find the menu on the top or left side of the homepage, as this is the standard menu placement for most websites. Meeting this expectation can help ensure users that information they seek is only a few clicks away. However, nonstandard menu placement could confuse users. The number of links visible to the user at any one time can influence their decision to stay on a site or to bounce to another one. For example, showing 20 links in the menu may overwhelm users. Often it's advisable to offer concise navigation on the main menu and offer additional links on interior menus that appear the further a user clicks through the site. The order in which links appear in a menu can affect how users proceed. Many users might focus most of their attention on the first and last items in a menu with their attention steadily decreasing with movement toward the middle option. This is a psychological phenomenon called serial position effect. Thus presenting your menu options with the most frequently used links at the beginning and end with secondarily important links next to the series. As you move toward the middle this can increase the ease of use and improve navigation. Once again, remember, our number one goal is to keep the visitor on our page as long as possible. If the user gets lost on your site they will likely get frustrated and leave. In the next lesson, we'll talk about navigation tips, so stay tuned. Thank you for watching this lesson on the importance of navigation.

Beginner Provider : Anne Ross 3 Lessons · 12m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

In these lessons, you will learn the importance of good website navigation. Common issues with website navigation include getting lost going through a website or being unable to reach a page the user was at previously. We’ll explain how to resolve these issues by incorporating navigation into your website, including common links, menu structures, and other navigation tips.

You’ll learn optimal ways of routing navigation for your website and some of the best strategies for link destinations. We’ll also discuss the importance of providing visual cues with navigation to subtly guide viewers to where they need to go. Finally, we’ll discuss the reasoning behind intuitive navigation, along with how to test your navigation for both functionality and design.

What You'll Learn

Understand the importance of website navigation and visitor orientation
Incorporate links and menu structures into a website
Apply navigation tips, including optimal routing and strategies for link destinations
Use visual cues to subtly guide viewers to where they need to go
Test a website's navigation for both functionality and design

Key Takeaways

Good website navigation helps prevent common issues such as users getting lost or being unable to return to a page they previously visited.
Navigation can be improved by incorporating common links, menu structures, and other navigation tips.
Providing visual cues with navigation subtly guides viewers to where they need to go.
Navigation should be intuitive and tested for both functionality and design.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn the importance of good website navigation, how to incorporate links and menu structures, optimal ways of routing navigation, strategies for link destinations, the use of visual cues, the reasoning behind intuitive navigation, and how to test your navigation for both functionality and design.

What lessons does this course include?

The course includes three lessons: Importance of Navigation and Visitor Orientation, Navigation Tips, and Navigation Testing.

What skills does this course help build?

It helps build skills in Interactive Web Design, Intuitive Navigation, Usability, User Interface Testing, Web Testing, and Web Usability.

What navigation problems does this course address?

It addresses common website navigation issues such as users getting lost going through a website or being unable to reach a page they were at previously, and explains how to resolve them.