Organizing Website Structure and Navigation

If you’re not really sure how to begin planning the structure and navigation of your website, it might be tempting to just throw caution to the wind and throw the site together. That is certainly one way to do it. However, developing a detailed plan for information structure and navigation is more likely to produce a site that is easy to use, find necessary information, and send a deliberate message of detail and planning to your customers.


If you’ve already planned and even written the information for your site, a big portion of the process is already complete.

You’ve streamlined the necessary information and considered the things that are relevant and interesting to your users. The structure and navigation of your website will present that information in a way that is organized and easy to find.

The next step is to divide the content you plan to include into categories. Most sites will include some standard categories like contact info, ‘about us’ info, etc. Everything that’s left over should be categorized into main content sections: product information, industry information, etc. Then within the main categories, organize information into subcategories as well.

If there’s any information left over that doesn’t seem to fit naturally into your main categories, you may need to create additional category for that information or you’ll need to evaluate whether that information is valuable. Then allocate a brief but precise label to each of your main categories.

Once you’ve carefully categorized your information, it’s time to decide how that information will be stored, displayed and organized on your website, otherwise known as website navigation.


Ideally, you’ll have a main navigation bar that appears the same way and the same position no matter where you are in the site.

This main bar allows visitors to easily click through your website without having to backtrack or retrace their steps. The main bar should include the standard information like contact and biographical information. It should also include the tabs that direct visitors to your main categories you allocated previously. That being said, the bar should be fairly short with just a handful of tabs.


Once you’ve created a main navigation structure, organize the secondary navigation structure.

This plan includes labels, menus or other methods of directing customers to the secondary information or sub-categories that you organized previously.

This part of the planning process is where a lot of websites can fall into disarray, so it’s best to keep the secondary navigation plan as simple as possible. Sub-categories can be listed simply on drop-down menus or even built into the text of the webpage. However, be careful that the information is stream-lined and simple, and that your sub-categories don’t reappear in other main categories.

There is nothing more frustrating than a disorganized, confusing website. Make sure that your navigation bars are clearly visible in your design and that the different areas are clearly and specifically labeled. Make it easy for consumers to find the information they want: where you are, how to buy, how much it costs, etc. Think critically and enlist test users for your website that will give you honest feedback about the usability of your site. A well structured website is sure to impress your clientele.

 

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