Top 10 Prospects of Good Navigation Design

If content is the heart of every website publication, then navigation is its brain and intrinsic pillar of information architecture

design. When dealing with large quantity of content, the captious importance of

navigation cannot be exaggerated. Content that cannot be found cannot be read. If

content cannot found and read, this means that their is a lost of cost or zero value.

Designing your website is like laying the foundation for your house. Failure to plan your foundation properly could put your building at risk of debacle, regardless of how nice it looks. Good navigation is a

website’s “table of content” and keeping it simple and obvious will retain your visitors happy and coming back for more. Be sure

that your visitors are able to locate the vital information as soon as possible,

without searching through clumps of extra information. Navigation should assist the

user in finding all the information they want, before a call to action can be made.

A good web designer knows that there are specific aspects of web designer that

cannot be overlooked to make an effective website and navigation is one from them. Navigation is just what it sounds like, how someone gets around your website and if

your site is lacking in an effective navigation, it is not going work for your

business the way you need to it. Here are some reasons for why a good navigation is

crucial for your website design.

PurposeGood website design always serves the need of the users, it is better to find out all the relevant information about your potential customer. Are your visitors looking for information, entertainment, some type of interaction or to transit with your business? Each type of your website needs to have a clear purpose, and to fulfil the specific need for your website users in the most effective way.

DesignThe fundamental principle for designing a website is that you should design for the readers. So, try to avoid designing navigation from the organization point of view such as using internal, obscure classification names that are not commonly understand. Remember, navigation is an aid for the readers, unless you have engaged them and found out how they like to navigate, it is difficult to design navigation that will meet their needs.

CommunicationPeople on the web tent to want an information quickly, So it is important to communicate clearly and make your information easy to read and digest. Some efficacious maneuvers that include in your web designing; organising information using headlines and sub headlines, using bullet points instead of long windy sentence and the cutting waffle.

Variety of Navigation OptionIf everyone attain a same navigating style to navigate a website, then the job of the navigating designer would be lot easier. Unfortunately, different readers have different preferences on how they like to navigate around the website, some readers want to navigate geographically, other navigate by subject matter or some wants to read the most recent documents. So, to accommodate a variety of readers and their navigation requirements, a range of navigation options should be offered.

ColoursA well planned colour palette can go a long way to enhance the user experience. Each and every colour provide a definite meaning to your website such as complementary colours create balance and harmony, using contrasting colours for the text and background will make reading easier on the eye, vibrant colours create emotions and should be used sporadically like for buttons and call to action and white space or negative space is very effective at giving your website a modern or uncultured look.

ImagesA picture can speak a thousand of words, choosing the right image for your website can help with brand positioning and connecting with your targeting audience. If you do not have high quality photos on hand, consider purchasing stock photo to lift the look of your website, also scrutinize info graphics, videos and graphics as these can be much more effective at communicating than even the most well written piece of content.

Do Not Surprise or Mislead the ReadersNever ask the readers to do something that is impossible or difficult for them. For example- never force them to fill a “Zip Code” regardless of whether they exist in the user’s country. Never offer the reader contact option that cannot use. If you want to avoid surprise from the readers, than do not let them down false navigation paths and also do not ask them to do things they cannot because this situation creates a mislead to the readers and it ultimately harm to your business growth.

ResponsiveMobile devices such as tablets and smart phones are becoming a most popular way of connecting to the internet. Responsive pages is a good solution for this growing mobile traffic. If your website is not mobile friendly, you can either build it in a responsive layout or you can build a dedicated mobile site.

Site should be Well OrganisedIt is important aspect in terms of better navigation, organised your site well so that your visitors can easily find what they need, as little effort as possible. You cannot expect people to automatically understand how your site is organised and where they should click to get where they want to. Navigation is your way of organising your site such as by making good use of primary navigation, secondary navigation, menus and internal linking you can create a user experience that is likely to keep people interested and loyal to your site.

VisualOur brain process visual information much faster than textual information. Thats why it is great idea to help your visitors out with some easy to interpret visuals. More abstract icons and colour are great for recurring visitors to remember a content category they were particularly interested in.

It is easy to create a beautiful and functional website, simply by keeping some

design elements in mind. Have you got a website that need reviewing and

optimizing? Or perhaps, you are planning a website and looking to get a design right from the ground up. Either ways these

principles of effective web design can help your website to be more engaging or useful

for your visitors.