How to start a website. Navigation guides: how find out where I am?

This question is so basic that many designers overlook provide this information to the user critical time to know if you’ve found what I wanted.

Whether it is a personal site or a large e-commerce site, you must always tell the visitor where he is and who created the page.

And where is there to say, in relation to the rest of the “world” in relation to our own site.

Sometimes, the user finds it difficult to know where it is since it has no reference points. To know where the users have not only URLs but also the names of pages, colors, logos, called “breadcrumbs.”

Note that users rarely follow navigation patterns designers intended. They can place any document from any other site: search engines, bookmarks, word of mouth. So place them immediately is crucial.

URLs

The URL (Uniform Resurce Locator) define the positions of the pages. And precisely why should not “secuéstralas” removing toolbars from the browser or by using frames.

This advantage is lost with dynamically generated pages are usually look like this:
http://www.compañia.com/main/actu.asp?ref=NOT19322&tipo=econ

Use simple directions and easy to remember whenever possible, to improve navigation.

The Title tag. Browser’s title bar

<title> The label is the first thing you see in the browser and should indicate the content of the page. Use a clear title.

Moreover it is precisely this title that is saved in the Favorites folder, so it is very important to be well defined and above all, that is not ambiguous.

Site identification

Since we know where our visitors come from, and the first document you see on our site may not be the homepage, must put on every page the name of the site.

The identification represents the entire site and, as such, occupies the highest place in the logical hierarchy.

The best place to put the ID is (for Western pages are read from left to right) the top left of the screen, because that’s where the eye instinctively goes.

By convention, this logo usually includes a link to the site but not everyone knows what:

Do not remove the obligation to put a link to the home page identified as such.

It is advisable to use the attributes “title” (the link) and alt (pictured) to tell users that clicking on the logo will go to the home page.

Identification of the page

We have seen the label <title> but this is not enough, all pages must have a name, which should be located so that frame the content and should be prominent.

You must also correspond with the link that has led to that page. If the name does not match, you may lose user confidence as the link does not go where they point.

Of course, in the navigation bar you have to reach compromise solutions, since they do not fit long names, but at least must resemble as much as possible.

For example a link puts Architecture -> the page name is “Information Architecture.”

Location bar or “crumbs”

This feature is becoming a convention and increasingly appears in more places. They show the way from the main page.

The navigation bar

You can also specify the position in the main navigation of the site, for example, giving a different color to link to the page in which we are now.