[thelist] Opinion on Navigation

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Thu Dec 13 10:26:40 CST 2001


> From: "Burhan Khalid" <burhankh at hotmail.com>
[...]
> I'm sure you all have seen the cookie crumbs navigation technique, ie.
[...]
> if you are not familiar, this type of navigation provides links back
> to the Home page, and is usually in the header (top half) section of
> the webpage. The links are dynamically generated (usually through
> Javascript), so that clicking back, gives the appropriate tree. I was
> wondering if such a navigation system (when combined with others)
> provides a better user experience? Or does it tell the user (hey, I

we've actually got a number of articles on this at evolt.org, but the 
primary one is this:

Breadcrumbs for the sake of Users
http://evolt.org/article/list/4090/4483/

> think you are too dumb to follow your way around)? Any opinions on
> this would be appreciated. Also, any other navigation techniques that

in user testing, i've found that breadcrumb navigation can be 
extremely useful in both aiding the user see his/her location in a 
site, as well as allowing a quick way to back out of pages into 
more general areas of the site...

one of the best examples is the city of buffalo web site 
(http://www.city-buffalo.com/), where the site can get so deep you 
can lose your way very quickly and the URL doesn't offer clues to 
your location...

for example:
http://www.city-buffalo.com/document_700_94.html

sits within the following structure, as denoted by the breadcrumb:
Home Page > Leadership > City Departments > Assessment and 
Taxation Department > Agreement of Sale 

we've found this is immeasurably useful to users and has increased 
ease of use of the site...

> you guys find effective? In doing a redesign, I am thinking of
> implementing the above scheme, but I don't want to go through it if it
> will hamper the online experience.

other articles on how to build low-end breadcrumb trails in assorted 
languages:

Breadcrumbs for Those Using ASP
http://evolt.org/article/list/17/4438/

Breadcrumbs for All
http://evolt.org/article/list/17/4428/

Breadcrumbs for PHP Lovers
http://evolt.org/article/list/17/4455/

Breadcrumbs in Javascript
http://evolt.org/article/list/17/15480/





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