How important is Web site navigation?

You should give high priority to developing a navigation system for your site. A themed navigation system is to be recommended. Web surfers want to find information quickly. If they cannot find their way around your site easily, they will leave. should be repeated throughout the site so that your visitors will be able to find their way around confidently. Every page of your site should have the same navigation system as part of your theme, including a link to your home page or a page with essential links to all sections of your site.  The navigation system, should be clear, intuitive and simple to use.

Design a provisional navigation system as an early priority. Be prepared for modifications. By developing your site content on a single document and finalising the sections for the site at a relatively late stage, your navigation system can be incorporated onto templates at a late stage of Web site development.

When visitors and search engines evaluate your Web site, the simplicity of navigation will be a major contributor to site success or failure. As you surf the Web evaluating sites from a new prospective, that of a Webmaster, pay special attention to the navigation systems used by successful sites (see Be A Spy !).

A table at the side or top of each page forms a navigation bar and will keep the navigation neat and tidy.   You can incorporate this bar into your templates or you may copy and paste it onto your Web pages. The links should be automatically included when you paste the bar onto new pages.

Frontpage, uses shared borders and navigation bars that automatically update themselves as new pages are introduced onto your site.

This site employs Frontpage navigation bars and shared borders.