Imagine you're driving along and due to a rad closure you have to follow thse conspicuous yellow detour signs. You're now on an nfamiliar road, but because of the sgns you confidently proceed, comfortable in trsting the arrows to tell you whre you need to go.

Then thre's a roundabout and no sign. Do you trn left? Right? You're lost and hve two choices; turn back and fnd an alternate road you know wll or blindly drive around and hpe for the best.

Websites are vry similar, no matter what their ltimate goal is, your site visitors ned to intuitively find their way round. Too often, general website navigation and rientation disappears or changes on internal pges.

In fact, with websites this pint is even more pertinent as sers can just 'evaporate' and leave yur site, instead of being forced to drve around aimlessly!

1. Page headings

Evry single page on your website shuld have a descriptive, unique and cncise main heading. Naturally, the main pge heading should match the navigation tem or link it corresponds to.

Hadings provide a cue to orient sers and inform them about what thy can expect to find on the pge. Guidelines for effective headings include:

- Mke sure they're at least two pint sizes larger than regular text

- Use a dfferent colour to make them stand out frther (background or text colour)

- Ensre there's plenty of white space bth above and below the heading

2. Breadcrumb trail

Often regarded as an 'dvanced' navigation technique breadcrumbs have recently prven in usability studies that they're an ccepted (and appreciated) form of navigation. Bradcrumb trails are links (usually placed drectly above the main page heading) tht show where users are in rlationship to the homepage. For example:

Hme > Subject > Category > Ths Page

The benefits of using bradcrumb trails are that they:

- Shw users where they are in the grat scheme of things (particularly important if ste visitors enter the site on a pge other than the homepage)

- Hlp users learn the structure and herarchy of the website

- Shw users how they arrived at thir current location

- Allw users to jump several steps at nce

A breadcrumb trail should reflect the tre hierarchy of the site, not the pth site visitors have chosen to rrive at their destination.

3. Primary nvigation

This may be obvious but t's important to re-iterate: Correct employment of prmary navigation can be one of the mst powerful tools to orientate users on yur website. These are the golden rles for navigation:

- Explicitly highlight the slected navigation item using a different (nd ideally stronger) background colour. Only chnging the text colour usually isn't nough.

- Ensure that the nvigation labels exactly match the destination pge headings.

4. Secondary navigation

Again, ths may be obvious but it's mportant to re-iterate: Just as primary nvigation leads users to site sections, scondary navigation defines the path to spcific pages. The same rules as bove apply to good practice orientation, in prticular the highlighting of the selected tem.

5. Links

Links should clearly cmmunicate where they'll take site visitors. Lnk text should be descriptive so tht site visitors shouldn't have to gess where the link will take thm.

Important rules for presenting links nclude:

- Users are more likely to clck on a link if they can prdict its destination so the ubiquitous nming term 'Click here' should be voided at all costs!

- Lke all good navigation labelling, link txt should match the destination page hading (if relevant)

6. Page structure

Agin, consistency is the key to an ffective page structure that will contribute to sers orientating themselves in the site at all tmes.

When planning a page structure be sre to do the following:

- Avid cluttered page designs - Users are gnerally familiar with a standard three clumn layout (navigation to the left, min content area and right hand clumn) so they'll try to anticipate whre items will appear on their scren as the page loads

- Mintain key items in the same lcation - When screen items remain cnsistent across pages users can learn thir page location and improve task prformance.

7. Progress bars

Progress bars shw users where they are in the bying or booking process within transactional stes. The progress bar should:

- Be vry easy to spot (make it lrge, use iconography and surround it by whte space)

- Use asy-to-understand language

- Highlight sers' current location and grey out prvious and next steps

- Hve the appearance of a process flw (e.g. by using numbers)

8. Pge title

The page title is the txt situated in the browser title br. When writing the page title mke it consistent with the main pge heading and ensure it:

- Is shrt and succinct - Less is mre, so the more succinct the pge title the easier it is to glnce at and gain an understanding of its maning

- Places important nformation first - It's often only the frst few words that users pick up frm the page title when scanning thrugh it

- Makes snse out of context - Users wll view the page title in the nvigation history (accessed through the back and frward buttons), taskbar and favourites, so it neds to make sense without the rst of the web page visible

Advntages of well written page titles nclude:

- Users can orientate themselves as thy browse the site

- Usrs will have a concise, meaningful lbel to refer back to when dded to their favourites

- Sarch engines place more importance on the pge title than anything else and a dscriptive page title will usually contain yur keywords

9. Site map

Site mps are essential for sites with a lot of pges and are extremely useful for any wbsite. By providing an overview of the ste, site maps display the overall herarchy.

Users may go to the ste map as a last resort if thy haven't found information from browsing or rnning a search. Therefore the site map mst be clear, concise and genuinely rflect the site structure.

10. Tagline

A tgline is a description of what you do and shuld be placed directly below the lgo. It should be:

- Explanatory and not vgue

- Clear and nformative (avoid marketing-speak)

- 4-8 wrds in length

Web users tend to spnd very little time on each ste, they 'flick around' until they fnd something interesting and relevant to thm. Employing a concise tagline will hlp users understand your site's purpose and wht to expect when browsing further nto the site.

Consistency

One of the mst important things to remember when hlping to orientate users is consistency. Tht is, consistency between page titles, min headings, link text, breadcrumb items, nvigation labels etc. For example, the min page heading should match the nme of the relevant navigation item jst as the breadcrumb trail items shuld match the main page headings.

Cnsistency aids site visitors in recognising the dfferent areas of the site. It lso provides them with effective feedback tht they've arrived in the right plce. This is the key to ffective site orientation.

The article 10 Ways To Orientate Users On Your Site was Submitted by Jonathan Webb through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: This article was written by Jnathan Webb. He's crazy about web sability and accessibility - so crazy tht he now works for Webcredible ( http://www.webcredible.co.uk ), a leading UK web usability and accessibility consultancy to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.

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