35 replies to this topic

[cre8pc]

The first thing that should be done before any design takes place is to decide what you want the site to do.

Ask yourself and/or your Team the following questions.

1. Do you want it to inform, or sell something?
2. What are your qualifications?
3. Who are your users?
4. What is your target market?

Then, you must understand how users interact with websites. They are task and goal oriented. They want to get in, and get out, or if you have some cool stuff, they want to see more of it. They want to do this in 3 clicks or less. Preferably LESS.

How do you offer that? By way of a good navigation scheme that includes main navigation, subnavigation, hubs, buckets, and breadcrumbs. To name a few. Stay tuned to learn more or ask questions and we'll tackle it together.

Kim

[bragadocchio]

Hi Kim,

On reading your post, the following quote came to mind:

I talk to many young painters, because I teach in art schools.  I ask them: Why do you think that what you do ends at the edges of the canvas?  Think of the frame.  What frame are you working in?  Not just that bit of wood 'round the edge, but the room you're in, the light you're in, the time and place that you're in.  How can you redesign it?  I would say that to musicians, too. I see them spending a lot of time working on the internal details of what they're doing and far less time working on the ways of positioning in in the world.  By "positioning it" I don't only mean thinking of ways of getting it to a record company, but thinking of where it could go, and where it fits into the cultural picture -- what else does it relate to?

-- Brian Eno

Of course, if we were to say this to web designers, I would have to add that by "positioning it" I'm not just talking about getting it to show up in search engines...

[Advisor]

How do you offer that?  By way of a good navigation scheme that includes main navigation, subnavigation, hubs, buckets, and breadcrumbs. To name a few. Kim

I know what subnavigation and breadcrumbs are, but what are hubs and buckets?

Can you tell I'm not a designer?

Jill

[cre8pc]

You know how in the card game Solitaire there's a heirarchy, with the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and then all the numbers?

Well, imagine hubs and buckets like that.

The Joker is the homepage. A hub is an Ace, King, Queen or Jack. The buckets are the numbered cards. You can even do it so that all the diamonds are sub-hub, all the hearts are a sub-hub, etc. with buckets underneath them.

Another way of looking at is a product website. There's a homepage. There's About Us, Contact Us, Sitemap (if they're smart), Product Catalog.

The Product Catalog is a "homepage" IF there's several product lines, such as Executive Line, Small Business Line, Budget Line. Those "lines" each have a hub page that launches each line. The Product Catalog homepage is their "jump page". (or doorway, if optimized like one.)

Each product line "hub" contains different items. They can be divided into "buckets", where each individual product is a "bucket". Every time a new product is added to the line, a new bucket is added to the hub.

When a webmaster uses templates in their design, the theory of hubs and buckets is all the easier. Each hub can be template, and each bucket can be a different, but related, template design. I've seen some very nice sites that use color to help differentiate hubs. For example, the Executive Line would have a template that features the color blue in the background, and the buckets inside can be a lighter shade of that blue. Another hub would be green, with its buckets being a lighter shade of that green. This is good usability.

Navigation is easier when the drilldown is user friendly. When each hub is linked to from a homepage with a text link, and the page and the link are optimized, this affords much easier access by search engine crawlers. This navigation makes it easier for search engines to find pages, and users as well!

The use of breadcrumbs and how to design the navigation of them, intertwinded with hubs and buckets is another step to all this.

I can talk about that if anyone's interested
Kim

[Black_Knight]

Ok, I give in. What on earth are breadcrumbs?

Phil.

Phill, for that you should follow the breadcrumb path:

Home > Explainations > Breadcrumbs

(I couldn't resist )

Any path like that is 'breadcrumbs', where each part of the path is a breadcrumb trail back to home.

[Advisor]

Great stuff, Kim, thanks!

Large sites really need to work things exactly that way!

Jill

[cre8pc]

Yep, like Ammon (BK) says, it's like breadcrumb trail. Really.

Or popcorn trail.

Can be something like

Home > Hub> Bucket A > Bucket B > Bucket C

Home > HubA > HubB > HubC with a sub-breadcrumb nav for buckets.

Breadcrumbs are used in conjunction with regular navigation. They don't replace it. And, they're nearly always in text form (text only links). Really big sites have top navigation to the top level pages, hub navigation on the left with breadcrumb navigation inside, and footer navigation is the bottom. The footer is important. When all else fails there must be a fast way "Home" or to "Contact" at the very least.

The idea is to never design a user right out of the Web site. Do everything to keep them there, clicking around...

Kim

[Advisor]

Home > Hub> Bucket A > Bucket B > Bucket C

And what an awesome way to get your keywords into the hyperlinks...the exact ones that describe the page you're pointing too!

I love stuff that makes perfect sense to your visitor and also to the search engines...exactly as it should be :!:

Jill

[Advisor]

I wonder if the words breadcrumb trail come from the story of Hansel and Gretel? (Wasn't it they who left breadcrumbs to find their way home, but the birds ate 'em? Or was it Snow White?)

J

[bragadocchio]

Jiill

I believe it was Hansel and Gretel. Snow White had Dwarves to help her find her way home.

[cre8pc]

Having just gotten around to watching Lord of the Rings, the idea of a breadcrumb trail leading anywhere seems like a piece of cake compared to what THOSE guys have to through, just to save the world.

Kim

[sanity]

And what an awesome way to get your keywords into the hyperlinks...the exact ones that describe the page you're pointing too!

Damn you've just figured out my secret weapon Jill.

Great info Kim - thanks!

[Advisor]

Welcome, Sophie, nice to see you here!

Jill

[sanity]

Thanks Jill.

It looks like a nice place to hang out!

Soph

[sharit]

Hi everyone--

Just a little note about breadcrumbs? Using them depends on site architecture. If you have a larger site with main categories, subcategories, and such, then it's logical to use breadcrumbs.

If there is little or no categorization, then don't use breadcrumbs.

Just a pet peeve of mine. I can just see keyword stuffing in breadcrumb links happening even though they aren't necessary in some types of site designs.

[cre8pc]

Definitely! This is an excellent point. Overall, what I notice the most are two things:

1 - little or no organization of elements on a website

2 - little or no pointers on where the user is, where they can go and how they can get back to where they were

It's great to have you here Shari.

Kim

[Advisor]

Welcome Shari!

Just a little note about breadcrumbs? Using them depends on site architecture. If you have a larger site with main categories, subcategories, and such, then it's logical to use breadcrumbs.

I don't know, I think they can be useful on most sites, even if they're small. Certainly, they're necessary on large sites, but I don't think I've seen an instance where they detract from the user experience, even on a small site.

Jill

[peter_d]

Agreed.

The size of the site doesn't matter. I think they are a great navigational tool - it's always nice to see a sign post, wether you use it or not.

Keyword "stuffing" is up to the individual. And Google