Website Navigation and Theme
Gene DeFazzio
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Website Navigation and Theme
Gene DeFazzio
Have you ever visited a website where you keep clicking on
links, hoping you are going to find that information you're
looking for, only to be led to more pages of links. It gets
frustrating and visitors often leave without finding what they
were looking for. That is not good for you our your visitor. The
answer is to have a clean, simple website navigation scheme that
is as clear and obvious as possible.
There are several schools of thought on the best website
navigational design. I don't believe there is any one
''best'' design; Your navigation model depends on your website
and its content and is often a combination of two or more
designs. We will examine three different website navigation
methods and see how they work. They are:
Linear navigation is used for a website where you want
the visitor to go from one step to another in a particular
order. This is usually used within a website but seldom as a
stand alone design. The idea here is that the visitor follows
the pages in a predefined order or sequence that you determine.
This is particularly usefull for tutorials. But, it also has
many other uses.
The database or grid design of website navigation is made
up of multiple main divisions and each division is linked to its
own database. This type of navigation can be used effectively
when large amounts of data are required in the website design.
With database navigation the visitor begins by selecting the
main heading that best serves their purpose. From there they can
drill down deeper and deeper into the selected database.
The hierarchical design goes from the general to the
specific; from a home page to main sections to subsections and
databases. A visitor could easily go from the home page to other
areas of the website and back again. The goal of any
hierarchical navigational system is to offer the user a clear
and simple way to access all pages in a site.
Note: you don't want to put a direct link to everything on your
website on any single page. Your website links should progress
through several levels branching out as they go. Too many links
to choose from and your visitors often won't know what to click
on.
As I said earlier, many websites are a combination of
navigational models and you will have to determine which method
works best for your web pages. It is important to have a clear
idea of your navigational system before you organize your
website. Help your visitors find the information they need with
the least number of clicks. This will also serve you in creating
your site theme.
Website Theme
To enhance navigation every website should have some type of
theme - a way of giving your site an identifying look. This can
be through the use of a unique logo, a particular color
combination or a recognizable idea such as gardening or pets.
Let's take a look at the theme of the website.
If you have chosen a title for your website or business, think
about what theme would compliment that title. Let your
imagination take over here and think of several ideas and write
them down. If you don't have a title or name chosen, think of
the content, graphics and/or photos you're going to include on
your site. Deciding on a theme might help you come up with a
unique name.
A theme can be obvious . . . such as a greenhouse using
gardening tools, flowers, etc. Or it can be a metaphor. For
example, a website about babies could also use a ''gardening''
theme. The metaphors of seedlings, growth, nurturing, feeding
and caring for tender plants would translate very well. When the
theme is a particular color or color combination, the links,
buttons and graphics should all reflect that color theme. If a
logo is used as the theme, that logo should be incorporated on
every page.
What you are doing, with a theme, is providing cohesiveness to
your site - letting visitors know they are still in the same
place no matter what section they are viewing. Web users don't
like the feeling of being ''lost'' and will leave a site if they
feel they don't know where they are or how to find information.
Combing your theme and navigation scheme is the way professional
webmasters create their sites. You should too!
About the author:
Gene DeFazzio is the author and webmaster of the Rocketface®
Workshop http://www.rocketface.com/.
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