Web Design & Navigation - how people use web sites, the call to action, making sure that the site has the elements to guide the user to the areas and products or services that they are looking for easily. That is a very short description, but in a nutshell you have to achieve all of these elements and the main key is navigation!

Web Site Size Denotes Navigation

In a small business site we rarely go over 8 pages of basic information. If we exceed this number we break the site into segments or categories. If you have a quick flip over to Queensland Net's main business web site you will see that as there are just a limited number of pages that the left hand navigation works just fine.

On an information site like this one, we have had to segment the navigation into the main categories - a horizontal navigation bar; while the subject navigation for each section appears in the left hand side sub menu. This basic concept is absolutely unbeatable! We could have easily used pull down menus that unfold to the sub levels using Javascript or DHTML technology. The big reason that we have not used this is basic functionality and ease of navigation. Java (and DHTML) pop out menus look quite nice and don't use a lot of space, however getting your mouse to click on the right menu segment as you hover over the menu can be an exercise in frustration. If you add to this the different behaviors on differing computer platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux (flavored Unix); add to that different browser behaviors due to technology "gaps" in Java or Ajax and all of a sudden the menus become a nightmare!

So ease of use and knowing that most target users will be capable of finding their way around the site wins out! The KISS principle is unbeatable in a web environment!