What does a person, who enters a house and finds all the doors of the rooms locked supposedly do? He, in all will walk out of the same door he came in through! In the exact same way, by compromising on the navigation system of your site, you are just pushing the visitors out.

Agreed, you spend a hell lot of time energy and yeah of course money to get your website up on the top of search engine rankings. And yes, the visitors start to pour in. but making them come there is just half the battle won. What matters is how do you make them stay?

A good navigation system is the backbone of the website. This is one of the invisible aspects that make all the difference between a great and a moderate website. Some basic factors need to be taken care of before you frown about anything else.

Information Architecture

Information architecture is the taxonomy or structure of the website that needs to be defined even prior to the planning stages of the navigation. These constitute the very basic elements that define the nature and working of the website.

A typical corporate or business web page has the following taxonomy:

Products that has information about the products and services the company has on offer

About Us that presents information about the company

Investor Relations that contains information specific to investors

Support that offers help to customers

The personal WebPages have elements like

About Me, that presents information about the author of the page

Favorite Links that offers information about the links preferred by the author

Friends & Family that contains information about the author’s friends and family.

Organization

The organizational structure follows the website architecture. Once the elements of the web pages have been decided upon, there comes a need to organize all of them. Like there can be one single directory that is linked to the major pages from the front page of the site, or there can be multiple directories for all the sub pages.

The organizational structure should be in accordance with the visitors browsing habits. You can map out several paths for the visitors to use.

Navigation design

Now that the architecture and organization has been taken care of, you can work on the navigation design of the website. But make sure you take care of some crucial points while developing the design:

• Navigation if the skeleton on which the website is wrapped. Avoid special effects like Flash, Java or JavaScript. Instead make the navigation design more accessible by cutting down o all unnecessary elements.

• The navigation design should not be vague and unclear. All the technical excellence will go down the drain if you confuse users with fancy labels that give them no clue about what they actually are. Restrain from using terms that are internal to your organization as again the user wouldn’t be able to comprehend their meaning. Keep the labels as simple as you can so that it takes but a glance for viewers to know what they are.

• Though avoidable, but if you are really keen on using images for navigation, make sure there is some accompanying text with them. The use of non-descriptive images as navigation is called Mystery Meat Navigation.

• The navigation should be visible on every page of the website. The basic navigation structure should be consistent throughout with differences only to indicate the hierarchy of the location within the website premises.

If by any chance, there has to be some changes in the navigation structure after you have fully designed it, make sure to inject these changes globally. The modifications should also conform to the original goals of your taxonomy and information architecture.



Thanks to Michael Henderson for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Magellan Roadmate Navigation

Can you answer Heather L’s question about GPS?:

Both my parents have a tomtom, and after seeing how well it works I want one too. I do not, however, own a car. Nor will I be getting one within the next few years, due to the price of gas and car insurance. Unfortunately I’m terrible with navigation and can’t find my way through my own town. I’m looking for a navigation system that can direct me on a bicycle. (Preferably on the sidewalk) Does such a thing even exist?

GPS Tips

As people “browse” the Web, they “land” on a page and “navigate” on a website. To find their way around they need a “navigation” system. Navigation is as important for web design as for a real life drive: when you drive on a new road you want to see clear marked destinations, exits and parking lots. You want to know where you are and where you go. So do your visitors. Fail to provide a clear road map and they will go back to where they came from. Navigation should be clear and simple. Or better: standard. That means: don’t go around renaming buttons. Use “home” for your index; not “back to base”. Although this “back to base” is rather clear, not all the web users are in the mood for riddles, nor do they have the time to start learning your rules, your style, or your symbols.

There are three major types of navigation: global, local and hierarchical.

Web designers use global navigation for medium-sized and small websites to categorize the main points of interest. Hierarchical navigation refers to large websites - such as web directories, article directories, news portals and so on. This approach is somehow confusing for web novices: they cannot really find their way, especially when the navigational structure is not clear (some web designers omit important navigational elements such as “you are here”, “back”, “next page” etc.)

One important note about local navigation: it works great when you need cross traffic. You could use embedded links to lead your visitors to information that is somewhere else on your website or on a different website. But if you need to link to another website use a target=”_blank” approach that will open the link in a new window. That’s how the visitors will not lose the path back to your website.

Many times web designers use a mix of the three navigational styles, depending on the size of a website, its categories and the importance of these categories. As a rule all sites have a global navigation principle: the navigation bar. Standard placements of the navigation bar are on the top or along the left side of the screen. Some designers place the nav bar on the right side - but users are not really familiar with this approach. The worse practice is promoted by flash designers who ignore web usability standards and make the visitors “guess” where the links are.

No matter where you want to place the nav bar, remember: keep it simple. Take a look at the websites of big corporations. For example Philips placed the nav bar at the top to define the main categories and uses a java script to help users navigate to particular points of interest. On secondary pages Philips is using a left navigation bar. All in one, the web designers that created the website for Philips used all three major types of navigation, but the design respects one radical principle: “Sense and simplicity”. That’s right: Philips’ slogan applies perfectly as a fundamental rule when it comes to web design.



Thanks to Scott Lindsay for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Live Gps Tracking System

Can you answer Amy J’s question about GPS?:

I am installing a navigation system in my 2000 Mistubishi Eclipse and I need help finding the speed detection circuit. Where is it and what does it look like? Any tips for installing aftermarket navigation?

Best Gps Navigation System

GPS systems have become increasingly popular, portable and affordable. Sales for this small navigation system are off the charts, and they are the hottest ticket at every electronics store and big box retailer around.

So what is GPS exactly, how does it work, and why is it so popular? What other uses are there for technology? For the answers to this and more, keep reading.

What is GPS?

GPS is an abbreviation for Global Positioning System. This technology was developed by the US Department of Defense, and employs a network of 24 strategically placed satellites around the globe. It was originally intended for military use only, but the government made it available for anyone to use in the 1980s. That coupled with latest advances in portable technology has made GPS the new hot item. It is extremely popular with those who drive for a living, such as couriers.

How Does it Work?

A GPS receiver uses signals transmitted by these GPS satellites to triangulate exact locations. The 24 satellites circle the planet twice a day and transmit signals to the earth, which are what the receivers use. The receivers basically use the difference between the time a signal was transmitted and received to calculate how far away the satellite is.

In order to track movement as well as calculate an object’s latitude and longitude, a GPS receiver has to get signals from at least three satellites. If you add one more satellite to the mix, you can track altitude as well. One the receiver has the location, other variables can be accounted for such as speed, distance to destination, and more.

New advances in GPS technology such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and Differential GPS (DGPS) have made it possible to get accuracy down to within three meters of a signal. While WAAS is widely available in newer GPS systems, DGPS requires additional equipment and is mostly used in marine systems and by the US Coast Guard.

Popular Uses for GPS

The most common application for GPS is in small receivers that can be mounted in your car or carried by hand. These compact devices are usually used for directions, and include speakers that give turn by turn spoken directions to avoid being distracted by looking at a tiny map. But GPS users are discovering new uses for the technology daily.

One of the first widespread uses of GPS before the handheld was the Lo-Jack. This was a chip implanted in a vehicle that police stations could use to locate stolen vehicles. The Lo-Jack became the inspiration for locating other objects, especially living ones.

GPS collars have become popular for wandering pets. So when little Spot or Fluffy can’t be found, you can simply use a GPS signal to find them. Missing children can be found with a popular cell phone software that uses the GPS signal to locate them.

The new handheld revolution owes a lot of its success to the iPod. This popular portable music player spawned the invention of parallel hard-drive technology, which allows you to double the disk space of a hard drive without increasing the physical dimensions.

So as you can see, the GPS has a lot a reasons for its recent success. And with a sharp and steady increase in sales, the technology has become a lot more popular and affordable than before. You can buy a inexpensive receiver with a major name brand starting at about $150.



Thanks to SnS Designs Inc for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

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