The Web is packed with opinions on good and bad navigation, along with many pages of guidelines on how to get it right. But let's skip all that and look at one or two original concepts based on the way your visitors think.
April 12, 2000
The first of these is whether navigation links should be at the top or bottom of a page.
Top or Bottom?
If your pages are small (shorter than 360 pixels) this is no big issue, because wherever the links are, they're always visible. But for longer pages it becomes important because of scrolling. Nobody likes to scroll. We're all lazy and when we're ready to move on to another page we want to see the link right in front of us.
Sometimes we're ready to move on when we're at the top of a page and sometimes we're at the bottom. The big question is, how do the two circumstances differ? What's going on in your visitor's mind?
If they're looking for links at the top of a page, then they've probably not read it. "I'm not interested in this page. I want to go somewhere else."
If they're looking for links at the bottom of a page, then they've probably absorbed at least some of it. "That was OK. What's next?"
The two states of mind are quite different.
Of course it's never quite that simple. Many people will scan a page and only decide it's of no interest when they reach the bottom. But the very fact that they bothered to scan it at all means it must have come close to interesting them. There's also the pleasant possibility that when they reach the bottom the page has answered every questions they have about that subject and they're ready for something new.
Even if we accept that there are plenty of these overlaps and unclear cases, it's still worth learning from the two states of mind. Our classic visitor at the top of the page is looking for alternatives to what's there, and our classic visitor at the bottom is looking for follow-ups.
So:
links to alternative areas should go at the top of the page
links to follow-ups should go at the bottom
There are enough grey areas for all of us to be excused for not following these guidelines. Often there are pressing reasons why the alternatives finish up at the bottom and the follow-ups at the top - lack of space, the priority of some links over others, historical layouts. But when you're next designing a new site from scratch, just spare a thought for what's going through your visitors' minds when they're looking at your top and bottom navigation.
How many links?
Here's another interesting bit of user psychology. There's a trade-off in people's minds between choice and confusion. They don't like too many choices. If you want proof of this then think of a salesperson trying to sell you a car or a carpet. If you can't decide between five different products then they'll move heaven and earth to help you narrow your choice down to two. Not because they're wonderful and brimming with altruism, but because they know that when split between five genuine choices you won't buy. You'll only buy when the choice is simpler. They learn this at salesperson training school.
When choosing a link rather than parting with money, we can cope with more choices than two, but there's still a limit.
Somewhere in the muddled area between mathematics, sociology and cognitive studies there's a theory about the way we perceive numbers. It says the fact that we have ten fingers is a big deal. Sign language is probably the origin of base ten mathematics. Our minds find numbers up to ten straightforward, after that we're dealing with complexity. It might be nonsense but most two year olds would probably agree with it.
On this basis it's probably wise not to offer choices in blocks of more than ten. Eight would be preferable, five even better, but if you have to push the limit then it's probably ten. Many search engines return results in blocks of ten.
That doesn't mean you can't go beyond ten navigation links on a page, but if you do, try to divide them into blocks of no more than ten. Even then you'll pay a price in confusion, but if you have a big site you might think it's worth it.
Familiarity With Directories
The majority of high-end users on the Internet are familiar with computers and build directory structures on their own machines. Some of these structures could rival your entire site in complexity and may contain more files. If your site is aimed at these high-end users then you can assume they're recreating your directory structure in their minds as they become familiar with your site layout. Almost certainly they'll subconsciously note subdirectory names as they appear in the URLs of separate pages.
There are three implications:
To some extent they will judge your site on the quality of its directory structure.
You may be able to rely on this knowledge and simplify your navigation elements, but only to a small extent. You can't afford to ignore first time users.
More important than either of the above, if you spring surprises and create an odd directory structure, it may unsettle your visitors, though they may not even recognise the cause of their discomfort. For example, here on the Web Developer's Journal we use a pooled, non-hierarchical structure, so we explain this on our site map, otherwise users expecting a regular structure could be puzzled by what they see.
Art Versus Commerce
Small sites can break many of the rules of navigation. Arts sites are exempted too (music, writing, pictures). If your visitor is being entertained for free, rather than informed or sold to, they'll accept obstacles on the way to their reward. They might even enjoy the battle.
Some arts sites deliberately set out to give minimal navigation, sometimes to the level where they become hard to use. This isn't as daft as it seems. Clear, rational navigation is part of the commercial, nerdy world, and through their obvious lack of clarity these sites announce with great accuracy that they're disconnected from all things material. You can often tell just from the first page.
So although these sites are hard to navigate, they're very successful in creating the right image - one that will probably inspire their visitors to a higher level of tolerance. Poor navigation may be exactly the kind of navigation that's required.
It's a tough world out there for rigid rules. But you can rarely go wrong by trying to work out what's going through your visitor's mind.
