Site navigation is important to the usability of your website. Careful thought should be put in place about how your visitors will use your site, where you want them to go once they land on your site and how you want them to exit your site.
We’ve put together a list of 16 do’s and don’ts on website navigation for you to be sure you are on the right track.
Do…
- Have logical and standard menu links – home, contact, about, etc.
- Display menu links on each page, not just the homepage.
- Display your pages in an organized manner. Keep in mind how you want the website visitor to move around on your site.
- Keep your pages simple when possible. Sometimes, less is more.
- Use smaller compressed files such as jpeg, mp3, etc. However, images too small may be low quality. Be careful when optimizing.
- Make sure every page has a topic heading. This helps visitors keep track of navigation.
- Use unique fonts for headings, at least in bold – perhaps a different color.
- Look at major commercial sites for visual and functional inspiration.
- Make links descriptive.
Don’t…
- Use tiny fonts. Size 12 is fairly standard.
- Use many flashy graphics or noises. In some cases, these may annoy or may not load.
- Use unusual fonts for primary content. Keep it simple.
- Use a background color that does not contrast with your font.
- Make the same mistakes other sites make, even popular ones.
- Make pages so wide that people have to scroll from left to right to read.
- Use color combinations that strain the eyes of your visitors.
