Navigation posts

Stripping a website to its barest form, ignoring for a moment, content which is only text and images, all a browsing experience is, is navigation. It’s clicking links that take you to other pages with more links. The main navigation of your site is such a crucial part of this as it represents the persistent doorway to the most important pages of your content.

Many sites also have secondary navigation, relegated to the bottom of the site, containing ‘boring stuff’ such as Terms of Use, or Privacy Policy links; it makes...

One major issue with JavaScript-based applications is that they break the Back button. If you update content on the page with JavaScript rather than loading a new page from the server, no entry made is in the browser history; so when the user clicks Back, expecting to go back to the previous state, they end up at the previous site instead.

Drag and drop is a great way for users to interact with your web applications. But the usability gains will be lost if, after spending time moving through your application, users click...

When Marissa Mayer jumped ship at Google to take over the reigns at the web’s second biggest name in search, no one doubted she had a job on her hands.

Interest was sparked worldwide by the fact that not only had Yahoo! appointed a woman (gasp!) as CEO, but that she was also pregnant (gasp!!). Little was made of Mayer’s distinguished career, or her evident suitability for the role that has seen her carry herself with a self-assuredness fostered by a real understanding of the industry.

With possible rebrands floated, hints about major revisions to its search operation, and even reports that the famous ‘!’ was about to be dropped; it was inevitable...

The way people access information online is evolving. Google reports that by next year (2013) more than half of website visits will come from mobile devices rather than desktops or laptops.

Not only is the medium of accessing the web changing, the needs of most mobile users going online with their smartphone or handheld device is changing as well; becoming more focused and task oriented.

Today’s smartphone owners use their phones to perform specific tasks such as checking locations of destinations, public transit schedules, and bank balances. While internet browsing on handheld devices does occur (especially when standing in really long lines or waiting for a bus) many people prefer to surf the web from the comfort of their home or office.

Screen space is limited on handheld devices, and mobile users are busy, often multi-tasking...

By nature, the web is a chaotic place where people hop from page to page at will. Unfortunately, this freedom can work against those websites whose content is best followed in a certain order.

Design techniques make it possible to direct users along a path with varying degrees of persuasion. But when is it best to direct users, and how?

What defines linear content? You’re reading some now: articles are akin to streams of thought presented in a certain order. The written word isn’t alone. Although users may skip back and forth in videos and...