Designing Web Navigation

Part III. Navigation in Special Contexts

Navigation is an all-encompassing concept in web site design. Its borders are hard to define, and issues of web navigation span disciplines and job roles. Virtually every aspect of web design has some navigation aspect to it.

For example, keyword searching and navigating aren't necessarily mutually exclusive activities—at least not from a user's perspective. People change their seeking strategies midstream and switch from keyword search to browsing freely. Site search itself has aspects of navigation associated with it.

Or consider tagging, which offers an alternative to traditional means of classification by allowing users to freely apply keywords to web content. When the tags become public and others can see them, a social classification emerges. But in order for a social classification system to be useful, it must be navigable.

Though rich web applications bring more functionality to the Web by simulating the type of interaction found in desktop software applications, navigation again plays an important role. Navigation to and from web applications must be considered in your site design, for instance. And real-time filtering, slider bars, drag-and-drop interaction, and panning and zooming interfaces each bring new challenges to navigation design.

The chapters in this section will help you face the challenges of integrating navigation with rich web applications, tagging, and search tools. Take a closer look:

• Chapter 11: Explores ways in which ...