Web Navigation: Designing the User Experience offers the first in depth look at designing web site navigation. Author Jennifer Fleming offers design strategies to help you uncover solutions that work for your site and audience.Acclaimed Web design author Lynda Weinman says in the foreword to this book:
“Kudos to Fleming for her excellent research, approachable tone and generosity of information. If you’re looking for help in giving your site’s visitors a more positive experience than they get today, this book is an excellent place to start.
It provides ideas and direction, not preachy rules that apply to someone else’s site.”The first half of the book suggests goals and processes for developing workable navigation schemes. Topics include:
- Basic concepts in navigation
- Traits of navigation that work
- User testing and user-centered design
- Site architecture
- Interface and interaction design
The second half of Web Navigation focuses on designing by purpose, with chapters on entertainment, shopping, identity, learning, information, and community sites.
Through case studies and interviews, each section explains common navigation problems and presents real world solutions and advice. Designer interviews feature conversations with industry leaders such as Clement Mok, Jakob Nielsen, and Nathan Shedroff.
Case studies include sites such as FAO Schwarz, National Geographic, and IBM.The accompanying CD-ROM is more than just a handy drink coaster. It serves as a launchpad to the sites mentioned in the text, and also offers software demos and a “netography” of related Web resources.
“The Web needs more books like this if it to evolve to the next level,” Weinman writes. “I believe this book can help you make your site a better place, regardless of whether your purpose is community-building, commerce, education, entertainment, information, or hobby.
It’s written is such an enjoyable, conversational tone that you may have trouble putting it down; I certainly did. I wholeheartedly recommend it for all Web publishers.”
Geoffrey B
As an independent consultant I was pretty set in my thoughts about how a web site ought to navigate, and was pretty much turning them out like flapjacks. Then, a client hit me with a navigational approach — in fact, mandated a navigational approach — that I implemented only with many concerns.
I ordered this book, assuming I knew everything there was to know <grin> about navigation, as much as ammunition in case I had to have a showdown with the client as for personal betterment. Well, sometimes really good things happen for the wrong reasons.
I am really impressed with this book, and it has already been hugely valuable to me. Interestingly, it convinced me that the client was actually correct — that their navigation idea was spot on for their market position.
Actually, the effect of the book went beyond that. It started me re-thinking some of the sites I had built in the past that I still had some control over. It made me think of things I could have done differently, and it resulted in three small projects to improve navigation on existing sites. My copy is now quite dog-eared.
Pages are turned down, and sticky notes inserted throughout. There are marginal notes all over the book. I have been back to it repeatedly to use one of its greatest assets: its references. Unlike some books, this one recommends a quality source no matter who publishes it.
This is a pet peeve of mine with some other publishers, who can’t bear to admit that any book worth referring to could come from another imprint. Yes, many references here are to other O’Reilly books, but far more are to other publishers. A ten page “Netography”. A three page bibliography. References throughout the text.
The nice thing is that you can take the text and run with it, and when you hit a wall there are references that can take you the rest of the way. I was also pleased to see the demo of Dreamweaver and of Imagevise on the CD-ROM. Coincidentally I had been thinking about trying both these products, and now I will get to try before I buy. Conclusion: this is the kind of technical book you can have a relationship with.
When I first heard (six months ago) that someone was writing an entire book about web site navigation, I have to admit I was pretty jazzed. After all, web navigation is something I spend several hours a day thinking about, and there’s almost nothing useful written about it. (I make my living reviewing web site designs to make sure that human beings stand a chance of being able to use them.
It’s a great job.) I figured this had to be just the book I was looking for: endless discussions of whether sites should be wide or deep, how many items you can fit on a navigation bar without scaring users off, whether JavaScript rollovers help or hurt, and so on. Lots of diagrams and flow charts.
So I have to admit that I was more than a little bummed when it finally arrived: it just wasn’t the book I was hoping for. (In the interest of full disclosure, while I was waiting I sought Jennifer out to consult on a particularly thorny project of mine.
She was very helpful.) But the good news is it only took a few minutes to get over my disappointment. As soon as I started reading, I realized that what she’s written is actually a much more interesting book than the one I had in mind, and one that’s valuable to a lot more people.
Even though the title is “Web Navigation,” the subtitle (“Designing the User Experience”) is what it’s really about. It explains (and shows by example) how to grapple with a much more important issue than what your navigation looks like–namely:
figuring out your users’ goals-what they hope to accomplish at your site-and then designing an experience that meets those goals. (Hint: navigation’s just a part of it.) And since it’s broken down into chapters for different types of sites (like entertainment, shopping, community, and so on), you don’t even have to read the whole thing–although you’ll probably want to.
Check this out! https://a.co/d/gKoqRu6
Buy this book and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web and spend a long weekend reading both of them. You’ll know what you need to know.
