Website navigation is something you probably use every day but don’t think too much about. This is how you travel from page to page within a website. It is probably the most used part of your website that you spend the least amount of time evaluating, right? I used to feel the same way. A few years ago, I inherited a site navigation that seemed to be working so my team focused on growing other areas of the site. Looking into how our menu was organized was low priority.
We continued to just add things to it as we needed, and over time it morphed into a big mess that was difficult for our users to navigate. So, if someone asks you why your menu is organized the way it is, what is your answer? I’m afraid to say that for a long time my answer was “because that’s the way it’s always been”. I hate that answer. Instead, I want to share some big changes we’ve made around the grouping and organization of our main website menu.
What is Website Navigation?
Website navigation is the organization of hyperlinks on your website that show users where to go and how to use your website. This navigation can be broken up into multiple groups such as global, local, contextual, and even hierarchical navigations. The site navigation will be designed into your site and is a primary resource for your user. Site navigation is a very important part of any website interface, as it influences the usability of your site.
What is information architecture?
Information architecture is the structural design of your information, and includes the art of organizing and labeling items to insure usability and findability. In our case, information architecture can be applied to site navigation to help the usability of your website.