Creating sites with easy navigation
At Webreality we believe that the functionality and ease-of-use of a website is more important than visual effect. That’s not to say that it doesn’t matter whether websites look beautiful, it’s just that beauty is simplicity.
Many web designers have migrated from a print/advertising background, and many advertising agencies, are still print dominated. You’ll often see ‘web’ tagged on to their list of services, and usually they’ll out-source the hard stuff.
So typically, corporate websites end-up as brochure-ware. Heavy pages, with cliched businessmen shaking hands, and taglines like “because we care about you”.
These websites ignore the fact that the most successful websites have been interactive and/or transactional. Meshing sites like youtube and myspace are supremely interactive, whilst ebay pulls of the golden trick of being interactional and transactional.
So three rules for good navigation:
- Focus on one goal the site’s going to achieve
- Make sure that you can get from anywhere to anywhere in 2-3 clicks.
- Make sure there is clear hyperlink navigation throughout the site (for users and for Google!)
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Actually UI designers agree that a good interface is not always a simple one, but one that displays the right info, at the right time.
As for the “3 clicks” rule, it’s been shown as well-intentioned, but a myth: http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200304/clickclickclick/