Navigation

Navigation Menus: Trends and Examples

"Navigation is the most significant element in web design. Since web-layouts don't have any physical representation a user can stick to, consistent navigation menu is one of the few design elements which provide users with some sense of orientation and guide them through the site. Users should be able to rely on it which is why designers shouldn’t mess around with it." (Smashing Magazine)

Posted on February 27, 2008 | Permalink

Clickstream Study Reveals Dynamic Web

"A new browser study revealed a shift in how we interact with the Web. University of Hamburg researchers found the Web moving from static hypertext information to dynamic interactive services. Clickstream heatmaps and web page statistics show rapid interaction over smaller areas of the screen. The authors recommend that web developers create concise, flexible, and fast loading web pages to keep pace with the speed of web navigation." (WebSiteOptimization) - courtesy of guuui

Posted on August 10, 2006 | Permalink

Web navigation is about moving forward

"The primary purpose of web navigation is to help people to move forward. It is not to tell them where they have been, or where they could have gone." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted on April 03, 2006 | Permalink

How to build a better web browser

"I'm in the lucky minority of people that have actually designed successful browsers, or parts of them, for any length of time, and with Firefox and Opera in the headlines, and the art of browser design becomes important again, I thought I'd write down some of what I know. Its been years since I was a program manager on the Internet Explorer project, but I’ve maintained interests in the design of navigation and searching systems of all kinds: what follows is a rough summary of what I've learned." (Scott Berkun) - courtesy of lawrence lee

Posted on March 24, 2005 | Permalink

Navigation blindness: How to deal with the fact that people tend to ignore navigation

"Most web development projects put a lot of effort into the design of navigation tools. But fact is that people tend to ignore these tools. They are fixated on getting what they came for and simply click on links or hit the back button to get there." (Henrik Olsen - guuui)

Posted on January 04, 2005 | Permalink

The myth of navigation

"Data, content and functionality operate in a similar manner in the digital experience. There is a set of data, content, and functionality that exists in a binary form on some hard drive, yet how one interacts with it is through some expression of an interface." (Andrei Herasimchuk - Design by Fire)

Posted on April 07, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Joy of Navigation Design

"Navigation design isn't just about finding things -- it imbues meaning based on the contexts it provides." (Peter Merholz)

Posted on March 18, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Incorporating Navigation Research into a Design Method 

Presentation by Victor Lombardi at the Information Architecture Summit 2004 (Noise Between Stations)

Posted on March 02, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Page Paradigm

"In my nine years of working on the Web's user experience, a lot has changed online - but one thing that hasn't changed much is the way that users navigate websites." (Mark Hurst - Good Experience)

Posted on February 20, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Influence of Training and Exposure on the Usage of Breadcrumb Navigation

"Recent studies have shown that while the use of breadcrumb trails to navigate a website can be helpful, few users choose to utilize this method of navigation. This study investigates the effects of 'mere exposure' and training on breadcrumb usage. Findings indicate that brief training on the benefits of breadcrumb usage resulted in more efficient search behavior." (Spring S. Hull - SURL 6.1) - courtesy of lucdesk

Posted on February 20, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Tracking user navigation methods by logging where users click on web pages

"What this gives me is some justification, I think, for getting content owners to focus on labelling in order to give links in the body of the page excellent scent, and it allows me to feel more comfortable exploring ways to modify the local navigation and even remove it in some cases. It definitely helps to have this kind of data when exploring UI modifications with your team. I expect to track this data in the coming months to see how changes in the navigation scheme impact use." (Michael Angeles)

Posted on February 18, 2004 | Permalink | TrackBack

Rapid navigation in online documents

"(...) to make electronically delivered documents far easier and more practical and faster to work with, by expanding beyond the "help topics" design paradigm. This site covers information structuring; rapid navigation; and designing Help, Web pages, and documents." (About hypertext navigation) - courtesy of victor lombardi

Posted on November 24, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Breadcrumb Navigation: Further Investigation of Usage

"Breadcrumb users were found to use the Back button less often than users who did not use the breadcrumb; however, no differences were found in the efficiency measures of total pages visited, navigation bar clicks, embedded link clicks, or time to complete the search tasks." (Bonnie Lida Rogers and Barbara Chaparro - SURL 5.2) - courtesy of webword

Posted on August 14, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Determine the Best Elements for Web Navigation

"Navigation is only one segment of a Web site's information architecture, but it is the most visible segment to the end user." (Jeffrey Linwood - Builder.com)

Posted on June 24, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Web Page Layout: A Comparison Between Left- and Right-Justified Site Navigation Menus

"The usability of two Web page layouts was directly compared: one with the main site navigation menu on the left of the page, and one with the main site navigation menu on the right. Sixty-four participants were divided equally into two groups and assigned to either the left- or the right-hand navigation test condition. Using a stopwatch, the time to complete each of five tasks was measured. The hypothesis that the left-hand navigation would perform significantly faster than the right-hand navigation was not supported. Instead, there was no significant difference in completion times between the two test conditions. This research questions the current leading Web design thought that the main navigation menu should be left justified" (James Kalbach and Tim Bosenick - Journal of Digital Information 4.1)

Posted on April 29, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Site Navigation: Keeping It Under Control

"Navigation is the section of the page that controls what appears in this content area. The beauty of this is that the page content is malleable. The architecture is not, and should represent a strong, extensible foundation that will last at least ten years. It's like building out floors in an office building. You can change the functionality of the floors as needed without changing the structure of the building." (Indi Young - Adaptive Path)

Posted on April 22, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigation Research

"A short time ago David Danielson posted a handy list of web navigation resources, and then it disappeared from the Internet. He was nice enough to send it to me, and I'm posting my own version with some of his links and some of my own (...)" (Victor Lombardi)

Posted on April 01, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

IT & Society Issue 3, Vol. 1, Winter 2003

Introduction: Web Navigation - Special Editors: Ben Shneiderman, Jonathan Lazar, Melody Ivory (IT & Society)

Posted on March 07, 2003 | Permalink

Breadcrumb Navigation: An Exploratory Study of Usage

"This textual representation of where and how information is located within the website allows the user to link to major categories of information along a continuum of sequential order." (Bonnie Lida, Spring Hull & Katie Pilcher - SURL Usability News 5.1) - courtesy of webword

Posted on February 06, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

Model of Attraction (or Information Magnetism)

"The navigation is the common model used to explain how users interact with the Web. The navigation metaphor tries to provide a framework to explain users moving to and through an information space." (Thomas Vander Wal)

Posted on January 20, 2003 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Psychology of Navigation

"That's why I don't often use the phrase 'information architect' among the uninitiated. It causes too much trouble." (Jesse James Garrett - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted on December 18, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Persuasive Navigation

"Persuasive navigation is navigation that persuades a user to do something." (Jeff Last - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted on December 18, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigation Complex

"(...) six forms of navigation - three main types and three subtypes." (Peter Paul Koch - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted on December 18, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigating Information Spaces

"New HCI challenges arise from the emergence of information spaces and the related concept of navigation." (David Benyon - ERCIM News: Human Computer Interaction Special)

Posted on December 02, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigation Bars for Hierarchical Web Sites

"The goal of our study was to determine the effectiveness of the selection list navigation bar, an innovation to the standard navigation bar." (David Bowler et al. - SHORE 2001)

Posted on December 01, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Transitional Volatility in Web Navigation

Usability Metrics and User Behavior (David Robert Danielson)

Posted on October 23, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Site Navigation: A Few Helpful Definitions

"(...) collaborating with your team on the design of a navigation system can be difficult unless you all share the same vocabulary when talking about the different parts that make up the navigation UI." (Indy Young - Adaptive Path)

Posted on September 11, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Map-Based Horizontal Navigation in Educational Hypertext

"There are a number of reasons for the horizontal navigation becoming practically extinct." (Peter Brusilovsky and Riccardo Rizzo - Journal of Digital Information 3.1)

Posted on August 15, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigational Issues in the Design of On-Line Self-Administered Questionnaires: The Effect of Training and Familiarity

"Dual navigation refers to the act of navigating information records to retrieve specific information, while simultaneously navigating through the survey." (K.L. Norman et al. - HCI Lab. University of Maryland)

Posted on August 06, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Website Structural Navigation

"The structural navigation bar is becoming a ubiquitous element on many websites. (...) This experiment tests whether this type of navigational reference is truly valuable." (N. Lazar and M. Eisenbrey - SHORE 2000)

Posted on July 26, 2002 | Permalink | TrackBack

Requirements for Developing Successful Navigations and User Experiences

"Navigation should mirror, or enhance, the customer interaction that exists offline." (Mary Brodie - Design Interacts) courtesy of iaslash

Posted on February 15, 2002 | Permalink

Content as Navigation Tool

"(...) the journey is more important than the destination" (Christopher Schmitt - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted on November 14, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

The Evolution of Brand Identity

The Changing Roles of Identity and Navigation Design (Vic Zauderer and Marc Escobosa - WebTechniques)

Posted on October 19, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Usability and Navigation

"(...) we'll look at how you can set up internal links so your visitors can move from page to page with ease." (Andrew Starling - Web Developer's Virtual Library)

Posted on October 17, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigating Isn't Fun

"(...) many Web designers have incorrectly deduced from this that users want navigation schemes." (Alan Cooper - Cooper Interaction Design)

Posted on October 10, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Goal-Oriented Navigation Design

"A navigation system should be structured in a way that allows a user to access support for a specific goal as quickly as possible." (Kevin Knabe - Knabe Design)

Posted on October 02, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Can Navigational Assistance Improve Search Experience?

"(...) adding navigational aids to search tools will enhance Web usability" (Mazlita Mat-Hassan and Mark Levene - FirstMonday 6.9)

Posted on September 04, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Impact of Navigational Models on Task Completion in Web-based Information Systems

"This study investigated performance differences between three different web-based navigation models" (Theodore W. Frick et al. - School of Education, Indiana University)

Posted on August 06, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

A Comprehension-Based Model of Web Navigation and Its Application to Web Usability Analysis

Peter Polson's Presentation from the May 9, 2001 MOCHI Meeting

Posted on July 10, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Website Navigation is Useful

"Web pages can't be isolated from the rest of the site" (Adam Baker's theory column)

Posted on June 06, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

When Kids Use The Web

"A Naturalistic Comparison of Children's Navigation Behavior and Subjective Preferences on Two WWW Sites" (Elliot Soloway et al.)

Posted on June 05, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Basic Navigation Concepts for Interaction

"(...) a group of instructional designers interested in practical application of research to the design of instructional and performance support software" (Elizabeth Boling - Interface Interest and Research Group / Indiana University)

Posted on June 04, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Playing The Links

"Interactivity and Stickiness in .Com and 'Not.Com' Web Sites" (Deborah Shaw - First Monday)

Posted on March 11, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Rapid Navigation in Online Documents

"Design of documents and viewers to support structured hypertext and easy skimming" (Michael Hoffman - Hypertextnavigation)

Posted on March 01, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

SiteNavigation.net

"Everything in Site Navigation" (The Navigator : Sanjay Bhatgaonkar)

Posted on January 04, 2001 | Permalink | TrackBack

Design Science Journal

"(...) 99 percent of the interactivity on the Web today is navigation" (Ignition Design)

Posted on November 02, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Elements of Hypermedia Design

"Techniques for Navigation and Visualization in Cyberspace" (Peter Gloor et al. - Birkhauser Boston)

Posted on October 05, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Social Navigation: A Design Approach

"(...) an example of a socially enhanced information space" (Swiki and Formatting Rules)

Posted on September 22, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Wayfinding in Large-Scale Virtual Worlds

"(...) a study of human wayfinding in virtual worlds" (Rudolph P. Darken)

Posted on September 15, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

XML Document Navigation Language

"(...) the navigation of content which helps the user to easily browse a huge document on relatively small devices." (W3C Note - NEC)

Posted on August 02, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Structured Information: Navigation, Access and Control

"Structured information is information that is analyzed." (Steve J. DeRose 1995)

Posted on July 21, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Navigation Design

"(...) how to improve the architecture of Web Information Systems using design patterns" (Gustavo Rossi et al. in WWW8 Conference Refereed Papers)

Posted on July 12, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Website Navigation

Design in Infospace (Web Developer's Virtual Library)

Posted on June 03, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack

Seven Steps to Easier Web Navigation

(Constance Petersen - Enterprise Development)

Posted on May 15, 2000 | Permalink | TrackBack