Navigation:
How many pages will your website have?
By now you should be thinking about or have some
idea of what pages and sections will be included
on your website. This information is what
makes up the website’s primary navigation.
It is important for us to know what the navigation
will read and approximately how many links there
will be.
If an extensive navigation is expected where there
are primary and secondary links, this information
is crucial to defining as early as possible. There
are varied ways of handling an extensive navigation,
such as a drop–down menu that runs horizontally
across the page, or a categorized vertical menu
that runs to the left or right of the page content.
Here are three types of navigation examples listed
below:
| Simple Navigation that can
run vertically or horizontally |
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| Categorized Navigation vertical,
color treated |
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| Categorized Navigation horizontal
with multiple drop downs |
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Homepage:
This is the single most important page of your
website. Keep your visitor!!!
The homepage will and should include a standard
set of elements such as the logo, tagline, navigation
and contact information. In fact, these elements
are standard for all site pages.
So beyond the standards it becomes the responsibility
of the remaining homepage elements to reel the
visitor in. Whether it’s a Welcome
Statement, Featured or New
Product, Latest News,
or a combination thereof, it must be interesting
and resourceful to the visitor. A good rule to
follow is if your company focuses at least 40%
or more of their time on any one service, product,
event, etc. make a hotspot for it on the homepage
and dedicate a section or a single page to it. Any
information repeated daily or even weekly deserves
its place on a website. On the flip side,
if a particular service or product needs more attention,
put it on the homepage – but only alongside
a product or service that’s doing well.
A website should be resourceful, but it’s
only as good as the resourcefulness of the homepage.
Which is why homepage focal content should be considered
and delivered wisely.
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