Navigation Sets
Posted in Design and Production and ~News 2 years, 11 months ago at 3:19 pm
Readings
- Zen Garden
- Templates applied to the same content. Style sheets are one aspect of style sheets.
- Accessify.com’s ListoMatic
- Online tool for generating menu bars.
- Adding Style to Navigation Sets
Dynamic Navigation
Read about dynamic options once you’ve learned to style them with CSS pseudo-classes.
Many sites have more than one set of navigation:
Site-wide/global topics
Keywords and phrases make up the main menu of a site. These words are the main reason people visit your site, so refrain from making the language too generic. For example, on the CorvallisArtGuild.org site, the main menu includes topics members want to read about:
Biannual Juries | Brush Strokes
| Buy, Sell, Free
| Call to Artists
| Discussion Topics
| ArtCentric Events | Clothesline Sale | da Vinci Days
| Fall Festival | Hanging Around Town | Online Art Tour | Regional Shows
| Monthly Meetings | Workshops
Each of these main topics might have subtopics, which include a list on the landing page for the main topic, or a submenu attached to the main menu.
Audience specific topics
Most web sites have more than one audience. University sites have several audiences, and a menu for each helps target the visitor’s experience and save time browsing and searching. OregonState.edu‘s audience menu includes the following:
Future Students | Current Students | Parents & Family | Faculty & Staff | Alumni | Visitors
Tools
Example accessibility features such as skip navigation, text-resizing, and theme changes can make up a toolbar, in addition to basic functions such as printing, emailing a friend, refer a friend, and bookmark this page/site. Sites that have members can include a member toolbar which allows them to register, login, get a password reminder, and logout. An ecommerce site might have a toolbar for checking the shopping cart, checking out quickly, or updating the account information. Here are some examples:
login | print | contact us | bookmark this site
skip | resize text | login | register | RSS
search | find a location | find someone | sitemap
UserID | Password | Register | Login | Password reminder
Preferences | Shopping Cart | My Account
report a bug | report broken link | contact us
Administrative/legal
Administrative and legal links are often hidden from view unless a visitor reads past the scroll line. Footers often include links to administrative or legal pages. In addition, they might include a repeat of main menus,and tools menus. For example, these sets of menus might appear at the bottom of each page of a site
- Copyright date | Usage rights | Privacy Statement or Disclaimer | Webmaster email | Contact form
- report a bug | report broken link | contact us
- Main navigation