Cisco Networking Academy - Fundamentals of Web Design















6.5
Navigation
Usability



6.5.5
Intuitiveness




One of the simplest and basic places you
can integrate features on your site is within the navigation system.
Users necessarily interact with your navigation to get the information
they want. The more intuitive and useful the website is, the more
rewarded the user is.
Rollovers are the most popular way to enhance navigation. You can
achieve a rollover effect with static images using JavaScript or Java.
A rollover can be as simple as showing a personalized message in the
status bar of the browser or as sophisticated as having a highlight or
drop shadow show up when the cursor passes over the image. Rollovers
make your navigational elements look clickable and functional.
Rollovers also provide instant feedback to a user's actions since a
rollover recognizes that the user has selected or is about to select a
certain area.
This brings up a crucial point. Rollovers are design enhancements
not solutions. People have to find and use the navigation for the
first time before they know there is a rollover effect. Therefore, the
navigational elements should be obvious to the user. When the user
sees a navigation element, he/she should know intuitively what its
purpose is and where it will lead.
The navigation or layout can be tested to determine if it is
intuitive. Testing will be discussed in Chapter 10.