Week 3 Reading

Decision wise the web and reality is a lot alike. Take Krug's Sears example; when we walk into a store and are looking for something specific in a millisecond we decide whether or not we will ask someone where to find the object we are looking for or take the stubborn route and look for ourselves. This is the same with navigating a website in the sense that when we get to a sites home page we instantly decide if we are going to browse or if we are going to search for the subject we are looking for. Web designers use the term persistent navigation to describe the set of navigation elements that appear on every page of a site. If this is done right the website should be saying to us "The navigation is over here. Some parts will change a little depending on where you are, but it will always be here, and it will always work the same way." Keeping the navigation consistent between pages is a good idea for user ability to go smoothly however there are two instances where this rule can be changed; with the home page and the forms. The home page has its own set of responsibilities, which means it is ok and sometimes makes sense to not use the persistent navigation here. Also on a page where there is a form that needs to be filled out, the persistent navigation can add up to being an unnecessary distraction. One thing that should remain persistent with the website is the Site ID or Logo. When we walk into a store we only really need to see the store name once, because we know that unless we have walked back out those doors we are still in the same store. However, websites can be tricky with misleading links that can take you to other webpages unexpectedly. This helps to maintain the sanity and security of the user to ensure them they are still where they want to be.

Search Dominant vs. Navigation/Link Dominant

Who really has time to go back to the top?

Persistent Navigation So good that even a 3 year old can navigate it.