IA Research Topic Presentation

1. IA Research Topic Presentation Navigation&Menus Presented By: Jingya Wang

2. What We Will Cover: What is Website Navigation&Menus 1 The role of website navigation system 2 Some examples of different types of website navigation systems 3 How to design a good website navigation system 4

3. What is Website Navigation&Menus On a website? From WikiPedia Web navigation refers to the process of navigating a network of information resources in the World Wide Web, which is organized as a hypertext or hypermedia.

4. The role of website navigation&menus • Through dividing into the primary and secondary navigation or some other kinds of categories,the navigation systems can actuate the users to find information they need.

5. The role of website navigation&menus • A navigation system can make the structure of a website clear and easy for the users to understand where they are.

6. What good navigation systems look like Horizontal Navigation

7. What good navigation systems look like Vertical Navigation

8. Horizontal or Vertical? Vertical Pros: display more links Cons: take up too much valuable space Horizontal Pros: save space less mouse movement Cons: limit the link number

9. How to design a good website navigation system • Preparation Designing navigation system should begin with the website information architecture.Designers have to figure out what kind of features the website offers, what is most important information and what could be placed in lower levels in the information hierarchy.

10. How to design a good website navigation system Using user-enabled technology and user-friendly terms • Using JavaScript or flash may be able to make the website looks gorgeous,but it also may bring access problem. • Using simple,obvious term in navigation bars.At least,it should not be confused for users to find where they want to go.

11. How to design a good website navigation system • Drop-Down Menus When you choose to use horizontal navigation,but you need more space to display links,a drop-down menu is a useful choice. Tip:It's better to make a navigation system broad and shallow.A very deep navigation system is not friendly to users.

12. How to design a good website navigation system • Primary and Secondary navigation systems If you find that a navigation bar with drop-down menus is still not enough, you may choose to use a primary&secondary navigation.It is useful for a big website,after all,not all the contents always fit in a single large menu.

13. How to design a good website navigation system • Using a progress bar If a user need several clicks to reach a page,it is better to set a progress bar,which is an excellent tool to tell user where he is clearly.Besides,using a progress bar can roll back to a up-level page quickly.

14. How to design a good website navigation system • Keeping the consistent style Given that user experience,they would like to see the same navigation menus at different pages in a website.So designers should keep it same.

15. Summary • Navigation&Menus is a very important part in a website.Navigation System can reflect the structure of whole website. • Both horizontal and vertical navigation menus are reliable,although they have different features.So designers should choose a proper one to fits the usage of the website. • When a designer is trying to design a navigation system for a website,the most important thing is that the navigation menus should be easy to use and understand. The designers should let the users know their position and provide them with the easiest track to any page they want.

16. Q&A Thank you!

17. Reference: • Wikipedia http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_navigation • Peter Morville&Louis Rosenfeld Information Architecture for the world wide web • Rean John Uehara http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/side-navigation-for-websites/