Website Navigation Elements

May 28th, 2009 by admin

Designing a website you should pay attention to a lot of its elements as each of them can make or break your page. One of the crucial features which is responsible for your website effectiveness is its navigation as it influences visitors attitude towards your page greatly. It is very important for you to provide a user with convenient sense of direction while they browse your website pages,otherwise they will just leave with no wish to return.

For you to implement clear navigation that won’t confuse the visitors surfing your online presence you should learn its main elements and proper location first.

1. Top Menus. This is a menu bar which is located just below your site logo header which can look as single link, expanding or drop down menu. You may present the top menu whether as a text message or some graphics, or provide hyperlinks which will lead a visitor to further information.

2. Right Side Navigation. This part is not crucial, but if you decide to use this element it will appear as a column on the website top right side. This section is often used for advertisements.

3. Left Side Navigation. Can be implemented as a column or text on the left top section of the page. Left side navigation is similar to the top menu and can exist as an expanding menu or just a single link.

4. Bottom Menu. This is your website footer which is known to use text links, or a menu bar which implies either text or graphic images.

5. Login Box. You need to provide your website visitors with login boxes so they can easily enter the members area. Remember that users may get really irritated when they can’t find where to login so this section must be well seen. Usually login box is situated on the top left or top right of the page.

6. Breadcrumbs. These are the links and graphics that show your visitors on which section of the site they are at the moment. The links are usually placed under the header of your page and give a possibility to go back to previous pages.

7. Site Map. Site Map implies the enumeration of your website sections being implemented as a list with hyperlinks to every page.

8. Shopping Carts and Order Buttons. These are important elements of any ecommerce website. If you sell products you must provide your customers with view cart button, for example, on the top right side below the header. Order buttons should be also well visible. The easier it is for your customers to reach an order page the more orders it may bring, so be attentive with that.

It is up to you to decide how to implement your website navigation and what elements to place within your pages. Mind only that their location really does matters and has a major influence on the visitors wish to stay longer in your online presence space.


One Response to “Website Navigation Elements”

  1. Also could be nice to mention that Site Map is also important for search engines. And Left Side Navigation is actually very important to have, because people (visitors) start to look through web page diagonally - from left upper corner to right bottom.

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