Navigation structure in a website design is probably the most critical aspect related to the usability of the site. Your basic navigation structure should be designed from a review of the basic requirements and usability requirements. Web architecture development tools will often assist you in designing your navigation structure, which in effect, is a simple, top-down hierarchical diagram showing the relationship of all the pages on your site. It is generally agreed that this structure should tend toward the horizontal and limit the vertical, whenever possible, thus simplifying the design.

The web architecture design requirements define the content delivered to the user. The usability requirements, of which navigation structure is critical, will define how the content is delivered and how to find it. Here are some guidelines for building good web navigation structure in your html coding.

• A web page should elicit comfort from the user. Most popular web architecture may be designed in a fairly straightforward manner with, for instance, horizontal navigational links exhibited on the left (or right, or top) as determined by designer research. This type of structure would be beneficial, since it would be familiar to the user. Also, ensure that you develop your pages with consistency. Don’t change styles from page to page. Place your navigational links in the same positions on each page. Place them in the same sequence. Make sure that labels are descriptive enough to eliminate confusion and ambiguity. Color-coding of links would help to differentiate the different types. Use drop down or simultaneous menus in very busy navigational structures. Alternatively or in addition, pop up descriptive information about a link when the user passes his mouse over it. All of this enhances usability because it helps the user understand your structure, which leads to finding content more easily.
• To a degree, each page should have some level of introductory information displayed prominently to describe the site. It has been established for a number of years that users scan rather than read web site pages. This technique will provide a fast indication that they have arrived at the right place. Although most people initially enter a site at the homepage, some will enter a site almost anywhere due to a search engine hit. You don’t want the user to leave because of a lack of information or a lack of navigation (especially to the homepage).
• Don’t write html coding that would allow a user to navigate to a dead end. A link that opens a new browser window without a back link option could be considered a dead end.
• Have a good site map link and a search option built into the html coding on each page. Again, this facilitates the user finding the content he is searching for, which is really the primary goal of website designer.
• You should not require each page to link to every other page in the html coding. This would be a navigational nightmare. Your hierarchical structure will likely link the homepage to the first horizontal level. This level will probably link to each other and then, in turn, link to the next vertical level. This structure is essentially the top down design structure used in some programming circles for decades. The importance is that the structure works, navigation is accomplished easily and painlessly, with users finding what they were searching for. With a good hierarchical structure dead ends should be eliminated, though bad html coding techniques could create one as described previously.

The above guidelines are not exhaustive, but they should be understandable and easily implemented for most web architecture designs. Just keep in mind that the requirements established early in the design process will drive the content and the presentation of the content. The navigation requirements and guidelines will ensure that the user finds what he is looking for and accomplishes his goals.