Jessi Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Another good comic from Webdesigner Depot. We've all been on those types of sites, I assume. They drive me absolutely bonkers. I try to get somewhere and keep getting redirect or having to backtrack to find the answer. Unless I really, really need to be on that site for it, chances are, I'm going to leave and go elsewhere for my information. Ultimately, that means driving people away from your site if your navigation sucks. Pay attention to your analytics to see what people are searching for....make that information in obvious, logical locations. And if you don't need to forward them to 50 different pages, please don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangV10 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Yeah, sites with bad navigation are just failures. Some sites have things laid out very nicely, all the links are on display and it makes life easier. It annoys me when you have to enter a link, to get to another link, which eventually gives you the link you were looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrnothersan Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Yep, definitely. In order to navigate a website properly, and it to become useful, you need to have good navigation. Some sites simply don't bother to add navigation, and some add it but it just links you to random pages not relevant to what the nav bar says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Very complicated subject, this one. I've been to some sites that are considered to have good navigation and find them incredibly hard to negotiate. Why? Because there's too much navigation, too many options, too little, they assume certain knowledge... any number of reasons, really. With web sites becoming more and more complex all the time, I find the intricacies of "good" navigation to be overwhelmingly complicated! From a personal point of view, I really like sites with the main content and a search box. That's all I need: if I can't see it, I'll find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessi Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 I find the intricacies of "good" navigation to be overwhelmingly complicated! I understand what you're getting at, but my definition of "good" would mean not overly complicated either. Like a site that loops you around in circles is very much so "overwhemingly complicated" and a huge PITA. From a personal point of view, I really like sites with the main content and a search box. That's all I need: if I can't see it, I'll find it. I love search boxes, but unfortunately, all too often they suck! So again, having a well functioning search box would be part of a good navigation system.....as well as having your articles written to include those words we'd actually be searching for (*cough* a little SEO anyone? *cough*). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amdac Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 One of my biggest complaints are sites that use multiple menus on the same page. You know, the ones with a menu up top, one down the left side, and one at the bottom of the site. It seems like everything I'm looking for is generally split between all three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreso93 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I think government has that kind of navigation on purpose, to hide that they're not doing anything xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collin1000 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Any of you use Capital One's online banking? Their interface reminds me of that exact comic. It seems like every link I click on, I need to sit at a "redirecting" page, then get redirected, then go somewhere else. Why can't you just CLICK and GO like 99% of other normal websites on the internet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryce12 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Lol that was funny, thanks for the pic! In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges in designing a clean navigation is how to cater to diverse set of users. Some users are tech savvy while many others are not comfortable with dynamic menus and other CSS rich features. Another challenge is how to handle future growth of your website, it pays to keep this aspect in mind right from the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacko Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Any of you use Capital One's online banking? Their interface reminds me of that exact comic. It seems like every link I click on, I need to sit at a "redirecting" page, then get redirected, then go somewhere else. Why can't you just CLICK and GO like 99% of other normal websites on the internet? Tell me about it! I almost switched my service from Capital One, as their on-line service sucked so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__Darknite Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 The fundamental issue are that web developers are not trained HCI /UX (Human Computer Interaction) specialist's. Many web sites or web applications are created by developers who have to fill those domains which are outside of their skill set. UX design and HCI are fields that one does require to be trained in. Companies such as Apple, take UX and HCI seriously (read some of their papers, lots of great research going on). This situation can only improve as companies start to understand the power of HCI and UX. This shift will require better awareness and better education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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