website shop

Web Design Sunshine Coast

web design solutions
  Rapid Response: 0407 589 420
web design
web design
  Website Design
web design sunshine coast
  Web Site Hosting
web development sunshine coast
  E-Commerce
(Online Shops)

e commerce sunshine coast
  Domain Names
domain names australia
  Graphic Design - Logos
graphic design sunshine coast
  Computer Virus Win32/ Injector.BZ trojan
Virus alert
 

Web Design Sunshine Coast Future

website news
  Get in Touch
Web design Coolum
  Computer Tutor
computer tutor
  IT Business Systems
Mooloolaba web design
  Japanese Translations
ecommerce
 
sunshine coast web designsunshine coast websiteweb design sunshine coastwebsite sunshine coastmooloolaba web designmaroochydore web designbuderim web designbrisbane web designcaloundra web design
web design sunshine coast
 

Web News

Website Links - February 2004

Some basic education ftom web design Sunshine Coast.

The links within your website that enable you to move from web page to web page are known as your navigation.

Navigation must be simple. Since it's the backbone of your website, it's imperative that visitors be able to understand it. Here are two tips on how to make simplicity a reality of your web design:

Your web design link titles need to be understandable.

Visitors need to know exactly what link to click on for the information they need. Unfortunately, visitors frequently get confused and don't understand what a link means. Consequently, they aren't sure what info they'll find at the other end of the link.
Web design Sunshine Coast at 12website looks at these issues before we start.

Often, a link name that makes complete sense to you will mean nothing to the visitor. For example, I once used a link called "Resources" in the navigation bar of a site for a client. This section of the site contained various articles and links to outside sites with helpful information.

However, after a little bit of testing, I discovered that most people had no idea what I meant by "Resources". They didn't know what kind of information was in that area. Also, when visitors tried to look for articles, they didn't think to check the Resources section.

In other words, the link wasn't doing anyone any good.

The difference between your understanding of a term and a visitor's understanding of the same term can be rather drastic.
This happens because you are so close to your own business and your own site. More on business marketing.

It's important to remember that visitors don't know nearly as much about your business as you do. They often have no background knowledge, and they might not know standard terms in your
industry. Sometimes, you'll have to work to come up with terms and phrases for your links that are meaningful to the visitor.

Here's one general principle: Don't use clever terms.

Although clever attention-getters often work well in the offline world, it's different online. In character with their generally hurried attitude, web users want to know exactly where they are going and what they will find when they click on a link. They don't like guessing games and are usually not enticed by clever lead-ins. What lies beyond them is simply not clear.

Cleverness doesn't belong in navigation unless you're positive the meaning will be understood by everyone. You should avoid anything that isn't straightforward and clear. Steer away from any terms that obscure what your links are really about.

Also, you should be very careful about using industry-specific terms. You might be suprised to find out how much of your lingo doesn't make sense to people who aren't familiar with your industry. Carefully evaluate each of your links to make sure you're not using a confusing term.

Website navigation options need to be kept to a minimum

The second way you can simplify your navigation is to make the amount of options manageable. Visitors tend to get overwhelmed if you give them too many choices. They aren't able to focus. Rather than seeing each individual option, they only see a mass of links.

An additional reason not to include too many links is that you ordinarily shouldn't send visitors in a lot of different directions. If you've established a primary goal for your site (you have, haven't you?), your site should revolve around accomplishing that goal. So it's in your best interest to keep the options down. That way, you're able to steer your visitors in the direction you want them to go.

Get in touch with 12website

Sample e-commerce web shop
April 03
Mar 10
Feb 10
Jan 10
Dec 09
Nov 09
Oct 09
Sept 09
Aug 09
July 09
June 09
May 09
April 09
March 09
Feb 09
Jan 09
Dec 08
Nov 08
Oct 08
Sep 08
Aug 08
July 08
June 08
May 08
April 08
March 08
Feb 08
Jan 08
Dec 07
Nov 07
Oct 07
Sep 07
Aug 07
July 07
June 07
May 07
April 07
March 07
Feb 07
Jan 07
Dec 06
Nov 06
Oct 06
Sep 06
Aug 06
July 06
May 06
March 06
Jan 06
Dec 05
Nov 05
Oct 05
Sep 05
Aug 05
July 05
June 05
May 05
April 05
March 05
Feb 05
Jan 05
Dec 04
Nov 04
Oct 04
Sep 04
Aug 04
July 04
June 04
May 04
May 04
April 04
April 04
March 04
March 04
Feb 04
Feb 04
Jan 04
Dec 03
Nov 03
Oct 03
Sep 03
Aug 03
July 03
June 03
May 03
Your website homepage
  Top

Keep your navigation menus to 8 options or less. That's the max amount you can have without losing your visitors' concentration.
Any more than that, and they aren't able to discern an individual choice.

If you find yourself having more than 8 options in each of your navigation menus, try to pare them down. It's better to simplify the list and make sure visitors can evaluate everything than to cram everything in when visitors will miss most of it.

If you really need more than 8 links, group the links into a few categories. Although this can still get overwhelming, it helps significantly if you categorize links for visitors. They can latch onto one category and narrow it down from there, rather than having to deal with the whole list at once.

Overall, try to objectively evaluate your navigation from the point of view of a visitor. If you can, get input from people who aren't familiar with your site or your business. They'll be a great resource in helping you determine whether or not your links are confusing or overwhelming.

Frequent Questions Domain Name Search  


web development

Copyright © 1996 - 2010 12website pty ltd ® All Rights Reserved

12WEBSITE PTY LTD - ACN 121 286 664
Registered Office: Cotton Tree 4558 Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia