HTML, XHTML & CSS

52
Part I: Getting to Know (X)HTML and CSS
Figure 3-5: The bottom of the page provides further navigation aids to visitors.
If you build a map to aid site development, it can help you design your site
navigation, too. Consider each page on the map in turn; list the links that
each page must include. Normally, a pattern emerges to help you identify
main navigation elements (such as links to main topic areas and copyright
notice) and sub-navigation elements (links to subtopics on the topic pages)
for your site.
After you know what you need, you can design a visual scheme for your UI.
Do you want to use buttons across the top, buttons down the side, or both?
Do you need a footer that links to copyright or privacy information? If you
have sections within sections within sections, how can you best help people
navigate through them? Answering questions like these is the route to a solid
navigation system that helps users find their way around your site — letting
them focus on what they came for, not on how to get there.
Whatever navigation scheme you devise, always give your visitors a way
back to your home page from anywhere on the site. Your site’s home page
is the gateway to the rest of the site. If visitors get lost or want to start over,
make sure they can get back to Square One without trouble.
After you design a site navigation scheme and put together a few pages, ask
someone who isn’t familiar with your site to use it. To help that person along,
provide a list of three or four tasks you’d like to see completed — pages to
visit or a form to fill out, perhaps. If your test visitor gets lost or has lots of
questions about navigation, rework your scheme. A reviewer can also suggest
ways to make navigation features clearer and easier to use. You might
know your site and its content too well to see navigation issues that a firsttime
user will discover immediately. Ignorance may not always be bliss, but it
sure can be informative!