The most popular locations for a navigation bar are across the top or down the left. The navigation bar
normally describes the links to the primary areas of the website. Ideally, it should use simple text anchors that
fully describe the target page - meaning use the words "Gardening Equipment" rather than "Equipment".
Complex websites sometimes use dropdown menus to provider further options from the navigation bar. Honestly, this
doesn't help the visitor. Unless they are aware of the dropdown they will not 'hover' over the link to see the
options. And if the visitor is using a PDA then it is likely the drop down will not work. And there is an issue with
the search engines not being able to see the drop downs - a JavaScripting issue.
The first link in your navigation bar should be to your home page with the last link being to your contact page. In
between should be no more than 4 or 5 links.
Here are some basic navigation bar guidelines:
- Do not make the user figure out the navigation for each page. Create a common navigation scheme for all pages.
- Do not direct users into pages that have no navigation options. Many web pages contain links that open new
browser windows. When these windows open the back button is disabled. Use return to previous page JavaScript to
solve this problem.
- Do not disable the browser back button. When you disable the back button you usually lose a customer. Users find
the action very frustrating.
