Jacob Nielsen on web-site navigation

Posted by Offer Tsuriel on October 26, 2009

Nielsen (2000c) suggests that the designer of navigation systems should consider the following information that a site user wants to know:

• Where am I? The user needs to know where they are on the site and this can be indicated by highlighting the current location and clear titling of pages. This is context. Consistency of menu locations on different pages is also required to aid cognition. Users also need to know where they are on the web. This can be indicated by a logo, which by convention is at the top or top left of a site.

 
 

• Where have I been? This is difficult to indicate on a site, but for task-oriented activities such as purchasing a product it can show the user that they are at the nth stage of an operation such as making a purchase.
• Where do I want to go? This is the main navigation system which gives options fo~ future functions.