Planning the Site Layout

There are two things to consider when planning the layout of your site: content and audience.  The nature of the material you will publish on your web site will determine what type of site structure will work best and where to subdivide for primary and secondary navigation.  The needs of the end-user will determine how your pages and sections will be organized into menus and submenus, with the navigation maintaining clarity and simplicity for ease of use.

Researchers in the Instructional Technology Program at the University of Texas in Austin advise: 

• using color to organize chunks of information
• offering users different paths to find information
• keeping alternative organizational patterns in mind when creating categories
• making sure the navigation scheme has nearby text equivalents
• At the very least, each page must have a link back to the main page

The Yale Style Manual suggests researching the needs and demographics of your target audience in order to create a user-centered design.  They also state that testing your designs and getting feedback are essential.

Herman Drost from iSiteBuild.com describes Guided Navigation, where you can guide users through your site.  He states, "Links are provided for the next step and establishing links that keep the users on track continues the process. These links should supply the necessary information, as well as an alternate course clearly marked to allow the visitor to exit (iSiteBuild.com)."

Questions? Comments?  Do I practice what I preach? Contact me at afensie@attbi.com.
Organizing Your Web: A Guide to Creating Intuitive Navigation Structure was created by Anne Fensie for IT522 at Bridgewater State College.
Copyright 2002
Last updated October 03, 2006