Why is Good Website Navigation Important?

Thanks to the internet, mass amounts of information related to virtually any topic is now available at the mere push of a button. Even if we want to cross-analyze a company’s product or services in terms of their benefits, our first stop is on the company’s website. Consequently, we become impatient if a website becomes hard to figure out – if the links are not obvious, we click away, never to return. 

Website navigation is really important as it determines the effectiveness of a website. Good website navigation makes a website user-friendly and also makes sense to the user. Creativity aside, the basic navigational layout for each website is pretty similar. However, when designing the navigational elements of a website, web designers must keep in mind two things:

• The basic purpose of the website
• The intended audience

Keeping the above in mind, there are some basic guidelines that designers should follow:

Make sure all navigational elements are links using buttons, menus, tabs, underlining the text or changing color on mouse. 

 When using non-conventional links, explicitly mention that this is a link.

Remember the ‘Three-Click Rule’. Studies have shown that no user will click a link three times to get the information he/she wants. Therefore, a designer’s website should have links that lead to no more than 3 pages.

Keep the web design simple yet attractive. 

Navigational Element Locations

Top Menus: A top of the page menu bar is usually located directly below the page header graphic that contains the site logo.

Left Side Navigation: Left side navigation is typically implemented as either a column or text area on the left top portion of the webpage.

Right Side Navigation: Right side navigation is not used that often, but when used, it is implemented as a column or text area on the top right side of the webpage.

Bottom Menus: Bottom menus can be either a menu bar or footer.

Important Navigational Elements

Internal Page Links: Every page on the website should be within two or three clicks from the home page.

Login Boxes: Login boxes should be prominently displayed. Common locations are top left, top right or inside the page header.

Shopping Carts: if you use a shopping cart to sell your products, you should prominently display a view cart button on each page.

Order Buttons: If you use individual order buttons they should be large and visible. The fewer clicks it takes to get to your order page, the more orders you will get.