CATEGORIES OF NAVIGATION

STRUCTURAL NAVIGATION

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Connects one page to another based on the hierarchy of the site.

MAIN NAVIGATION

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It generally represents the top-level pages of a site's structure.

PROVIDES OVERVIEW

AIDS IN ORIENTATION

ALLOWS TO SWITCH TOPICS

HELPS USERS IF INTERRUPTED

GIVES SHAPE TO A SITE

LIMITATIONS

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Critics of an ever-present global navigation point to its intrusion on valuable screen real estate.

THE SIZE OF THE SITE

USER BEHAVIOR AND NEEDS

STAKEHOLDER AND NEEDS

STAKEHOLDER OBJECTIVES

WORK FLOWS THAT CAN'T BE INTERRUPTED

LOCAL NAVIGATION

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Also called sub-navigation, page-level navigation, it is used to access lower levels in a structure, below the main navigation pages. Generally transitions from page to page are smooth and consistent and provides a great deal of context.

INVERTED-L

HORIZONTAL

EMBEDDED VERTICAL

ACCESSIBILITY

SKIP NAVIGATION

EVERY MENU OPTION NOT ALWAYS NEEDED

LINK BEFORE MECHANISM STARTS

SHOW IT AT BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

ASSOCIATIVE NAVIGATION

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Connects pages with similar topics and content, regardless of their location in the site.

COMMON TYPES

CONTEXTUAL NAVIGATION

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Also called associative links, related links.Though links may transition to similar pages at the same level within the site, they quite frequently lead to new content areas or even a new site.

EMBEDDED NAVIGATION

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Contextual navigation may be embedded within the text itself. As a resultcontextual navigation is often represented as plain text links.

RELATED LINKS

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Contestual navigation may appear at the end or to the side of content.

ADAPTIVE NAVIGATION

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Used to make recommendations mainly on e-commerce sites: "Customers who bought this product also bought..."

ACCESSIBILITY

MUST MAKE SENSE IF READ OUT OF CONTEXT

LINK THE ENTIRE SENTENCE INSTEAD OF "CLICK..."

QUICK LINKS

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Provide access to important content or areas of the site that may not be represented in a global navigation.. They are contextual for the entire site, not a given page.

TO RELATED SUB-SITE

Subtema

TO ONLINE SHOP AREA

TO ACOMPLETELY NEW WEB SITE

OFTEN APPEAR AT THE TOP OR ON THE SIDE OF PAGES

ON THE HOME PAGE, MAY BE POSITIONED IN COMPONENT OF THEIR OWN

ON SUBSEQUENT PAGES REDUCED TO A DYNAMIC MENU

FOOTER NAVIGATION

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The advantage of footer navigation is that it doesn't intrude on site content or functionality, potentially saving valuable real estate.

USUALLY REPRESENTED BY TEXT LINKS

OFTEN TO A SINGLE PAGE

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

SITE CREDITS

SOMETIMES PART OR ALL OF A SITE MAP IS INCLUDED

UTILITY NAVIGATION

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Connects pages and features that help people use the site itself. These pages are generally not part of the main topic hierarchy of the site.

EXTRA -SITE NAVIGATION

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Important for large corporations that may have diverse product areas of businesses, extra-site navigation links to other related sites, sub-sites or companies.

TOOLBOXES

MAY INCLUDE LINKS TO

CONTENT

NAVIGATION PAGES

FUNCTIONAL PAGES

LINKED LOGO

LANGUAGE&COUNTRY SELECTORS

IF A FEW LANGUAGES TO SELECT FROM

LINKS AT THE TOP OR BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

AVOID USE OF FLAGS FOR LANGUAGES

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As languages are often spoken in more than one country. And in many countries more than a language is spoken.

COUNTRY OR REGION SELECTORS

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Content may differ based on the countr or market. A country selector allows visitors to pick their market regions.

ACCESSIBILITY

FOR A MULTI-LANGUAGE SITE

LANGUAGE OF EACH SITE AT VERY TOP OF HTML CODE

INTERNAL PAGE NAVIGATION

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Also called anchor links, jump links

DON'T DISTINGUISH INTERNAL& EXTERNAL PAGE LINKS

INTERNAL LINKS MAY OR NOT BE SHOWN AS VISITED

ALL SECTIONS OF LONGER PAGE MAY BE IN JUMP LINKS

INTERNAL LINKS AT TOP OF PAGS ARE VALUABLE

A SITEWIDE DECISION MAY "BACK TO TOP" LINKS ON ALL PAGES

IF LAST SECTION OF CONTENT IS SHORT MAY BE SHOWN AT TOP OF SCREEN

PAGE TYPES

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Navigatio type and page type are closed related.

NAVIGATIONAL PAGES

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Point visitors to their ultimate goal: content or functional pages.

HOME PAGE

LANDING PAGES

GALLERY PAGES

SEARCH RESULT PAGES

CONTENT PAGES

PRODUCT PAGES

FUNCTIONAL PAGES

SEARCH FORMS

SUBMISSION FORMS

WEB APPLICATIONS

PAGE LENGTH