BUILDING THE GLOBAL GATEWAY

Much overlooked in web design is the navigation system that directs users to their localized sites. Too often these “global gateways” are buried at the bottom of home pages, as shown with Compaq in Figure 11.3. Picture a user who doesn’t speak English visiting this page. Will that person have the patience to search for the pull-down menu, and will that person even understand what the pull-down menu is for?

Figure 11.3. Can you find the Compaq gateway?

Now picture that same person visiting the Giant Bicycles home page: The first page the person sees is a “splash gateway” with the phrase Select your country ...

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