Providing a clear navigational structure is key to aiding users in their specific task. It should also be possible to know where you are on a website, where you have been and how you can get to where you want to go.
Below is a list of usability guidelines that will demonstrate what to incorporate when starting your web design.
1. Always provide clear navigational options.
2. Clearly identify navigational elements from one another but consistently group and place them prominently on each page.
3. On long pages, use a clickable list of contents that link to the associated content further down.
4. Provide feedback on the user's location (e.g. provide a clear breadcrumb trail to aid navigation with coloured and underlined hyperlinks to higher level pages, and chance the colour of visited links).
5. Navigation tabs should be located at the top of the page and look like clickable real world representations.
6. Use site maps to effectively present the site's hierarchy, particularly on sites with many pages.
7. Provide navigation that demonstrates a clear hierarchy of content.
8. Ensure the navigation links of current pages are not hyperlinked but are highlighted to show users where they are and ensure visited links change colour to indicate where users have been.
9. Important content should be accessible from more than one link.
10. Choose text links over images as they are generally more recognisable as clickable, download faster, and can usually convey the destination faster.
11. Embedded links should be accurate descriptions of their destinations and not require the surrounding text for clarification.
12. Make link lengths short enough to minimize wrapping but long enough to be appropriately descriptive.
13. Indicate whether a link is internal or external.
14. Provide links to supportive information.
15. Ensure that double-clicking links will not cause confusing or problematic results (such as opening two of the same links).
If you do not feel able to implementing these practices yourself, then you should look into hiring the services of a reputable web design agency which has proven experience in creating sites in your industry.
One way to assess the quality of a web design firm is to look over their portfolio of work as this will demonstrate whether they follow any of the guidelines published above.
Web design companies should take the time to learn your business so they can create a site that is representative of your brand.
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PureBlue are a Web Design Agency based in London. We offer Website Design, Ecommerce Development and Search Engine Optimisation Services. Visit http://www.pureblue.co.uk/ to discover more.
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Hi really nice and informative post.Thanks for sharing such a good post.Websites designs that are easy to understand and easy to use are a pleasure. You can find what you need, and can do what you went there to do.Easy web design always attracts the visitors.
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