My Not Delia site is almost a year old and I've put a lot of time and effort into it. It's growing out of control so I decided to take action before it turned into a monster.
I've got Mark creating a logo - so far so good. Then that can be the basis for the new look.
What I'm not so happy with is the navigation. I thought that I should sit down with a pen and paper and draw some sort of hierarchical structure for it. I've been searching the 'Net and reading about the whole navigation thing but I don't feel like I'm any further forward.
Can anyone please give advice about designing site navigation in general, and/or perhaps refer me to some good resources to help me with this task?
Navigation can be tricky on a site. I've not seen any guides but you can't go wrong when you apply some common sense to it.
I think the problem with navigation on Not Delia is that you don't just have page sections but also all the categories.
I'd probably leave the categories as they are unless any can be combined or reduced. The other main nav links like contact, privacy, etc are the sort I'd expect to see on any site.
Not been much help there really - perhaps you don't really need to change them?
What is the end result you want from the navigation?
I think my problem is that I've been trying too hard to make every page available from the home page so people don't have to click too much to get to where they want. But it's got out of hand! There's about 500 pages of content there now, and the only way even I can find anything is via the site search engine.
I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and insert an extra level into the structural hierarchy.
Maybe something like:
Top Categories:
Editorial
Recipes
Suppliers
etc
etc
Something in the middle - an index of the content in the category for each category?
And finally the content pages themselves.
If you arrived on the home page and wanted a recipe for green widgets, do you think it would be too tedious to have to do two clicks to get there? The quickest way would be to do a site search - maybe I should spell that out.
Maybe I need a site map? But I once read that if you think you need a site map, then there's something wrong with your navigation.
Quote:
What is the end result you want from the navigation?
I want the site to be easy to use (easy to find things) so people will enjoy it and come back for more.
How about a "tag cloud" - I can easily see the most popular searches / articles, will save me having to search and one click will take me to a list of relevant articles.
I don't think that search is too much of an issue and I wouldn't mind having to click twice to get what I wanted, especially if it's done in a category format and I suppose assuming the category I wanted was there.
Noticed that you use google search and that it opens up in a new browser window. That might put me off searching but that could well be a personal preference thing
A tag cloud hadn't even occurred to me. I guess I'm not keeping up with things as much as I should be. It's certainly worth considering, although at this stage I'm probably more inclined to go with a more traditional style. I must go and have a look at some sites that are using cloud tags. Thanks.
My Not Delia site is almost a year old and I've put a lot of time and effort into it. It's growing out of control so I decided to take action before it turned into a monster.
I've got Mark creating a logo - so far so good. Then that can be the basis for the new look.
What I'm not so happy with is the navigation. I thought that I should sit down with a pen and paper and draw some sort of hierarchical structure for it. I've been searching the 'Net and reading about the whole navigation thing but I don't feel like I'm any further forward.
Can anyone please give advice about designing site navigation in general, and/or perhaps refer me to some good resources to help me with this task?
Hi Kay,
I agree with your assessment of the navigation. When I design a site I aim to give the user 6-8 options at the most, more than this and you risk losing their focus and ultimitley their visit.
Perhaps a set of sub-navigational menus is the way to go in the case of notdelia, though it would need looking at in depth. You also say you've been adding and adding content. This is probably a good time to ask, is all of that content neccesary and can the hierarchy in general be improved. Your site is also currently set at 800px wide. It's probably safe to now move that up to 960px, I think you'll find that extra space will give you a bit more levarage with the navigation.
Thanks for your help. I'm trying to take all the ideas on board because I think that this is something we should be doing in-house. I'm just finding it a bit difficult because this is my hobby site and I think I'm maybe too involved with the project.
Perhaps once we've got the new look I'll feel confident enough to do a hatchet job on the whole site and sort it out.
Yeah, a hatchet job. I like that idea. But I'll still keep adding content. I don't see any reason not to. I think the content is necessary, that's what the site is about - providing content.
Sorry, I'm not sure about your px comment. I'll pass that on to Dave and see what he thinks about it.
I'm really glad you're agreeing with me about the navigation as I've not been happy with it for some time but I've not had a lot of support for my gut feeling that the current navigation is cr@p.
Well, I thought that I was the boss, but it has been politely suggested to me that I go off and decide about the overall look of the redesign as I'm clearly making an @rse of the navigation. Suits me fine.
Hi Kay, another tip if you're struggling could be the scraps of paper route?
Take a post it/postcard/peiece of paper and write each individual section down on the paper and then try and make a visual hierarchy. That way you can quickly and easily make changes without spending ages on it.
Thanks, Steve. But it's not my problem any more. I can go back to being the pointy haired boss again. (Any Dilbert fans here? You'll know what I mean. )
I'd go for a simple approach - find a website you really like the navigation on and then replicate for your environment
Roy
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Feeling daunted by web redesign
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