Website Navigation, What is it?

Web navigation refers to the process of navigating a network of information resources in the World Wide Web, which is organized as a hypertext or hypermedia. The user interface that is used to do so is called a web browser. A central theme in web design is the development of a web navigation interface that maximizes usability.

The navigation bar is usually located horizontally at the top of the page, down the left or right vertically and can also be found in the footer, right at the bottom of the web page.

Having poor website navigation is like driving your car without a map through an area that you’ve never visited before. Unless you have an incredible aptitude for finding your way around, you’re going to get lost. In addition, the more that you drive around, the more frustrated you’re going to become. The possibility that you’ll never want to return to that area significantly increases as the frustration is compounded. The same holds true for a website that possesses poor usability.

Not only is the visitor going to have a difficult time finding their way around, but they could become extremely frustrated and never want to return to your website again. A lot of websites have great usability – why settle for one that induces headaches and forces the visitor to think too hard?