Helping Users Find Things Easily and Quickly Using Persistent Navigation

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Helping Users Find Things Easily and Quickly Using Persistent Navigation

Posted in Website Design Tips	July 10, 2006

Permalink: http://daily.mequoda.com/i//website_design_tips/website_design_tip_persistent_navigation_193-1.html

By Kim Mateus, Managing Editor, Mequoda Daily and Library

The key to persistent navigation is to help the user find anything on the site, fast. No clicking about, desperately hitting the back button. Make it clear where they are, and how to get somewhere else. Even with deep layers of content, multiple topics and content formats, covering three continents—Forbes.com answers this challenge. The navigation strategy includes:

A drop-down to types of content (for example "IT Research Library" or "Video & Audio").
A search content or quote box.
Top navigation bar with topics and rollover to see sub-topics.
Topic index pages with deeper content presented as bolded headline links, with photos, to highlight feature stories.
Within an article, the breadcrumbs indicate the article's location within the site.

All of these are standard website navigation tactics and earn high usability marks.

Mequoda Library Members Only: If you're a Mequoda Library member, reference Terri's entire chapter, Forbes.com Website Design Review. Or check the full Table of Contents for Best and Worst Media Websites 2007.

If you're not a Mequoda Library member, and are interested in accessing the full text of this chapter along with 432 other chapters, start your 14-day FREE trial.

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