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Why is it that we still find users clicking into sections they don't want to be in? Why are users still getting frustrated on sites where this new freedom exists? Below is an attempt to explain what I have observed as some of the causes and a few pointers to help IA's and site builders to work effectively with dHTML menus.
Note: The points below are particularly relevant to those sites using dHTML menus as their primary navigation element (as apposed to a sub-site or sub-section navigation element).
1. Quick nav doesn't mean no architecture
A thought out and content relevant architecture still needs to be the foundation of your site. If the navigation of and for a site is the movement through the architecture - and not the architecture itself, it follows then that the user's experience of using the dHTML menu can only be as good as the architecture beneath.
2. Quick nav doesn't mean no user journeys
A site should still be created with user journeys in mind (ideal paths that a user could take through a site that will lead to fulfilment). The freedom of movement offered by dHTML menus should still 'drop' users into user journeys where page level calls to action and hyperlink structures can lead people onwards.
User journeys can also be alluded to through the ordering of navigation options in the menu. The creation of sections and sub sections should also fall in line with these journeys.
3. Use top-level pages for sub-sections
Just because your new nav means that a user can jump right into your site assumes that all users know where they are going and what to expect.
An experienced reader of your content may find what they need at the bottom of your menu; an inexperienced reader may need to begin at the beginning. Keep top level pages for each sub section (forks in the architecture). These pages can help guide users to where they need to go through a little reading and explanation of the nature of the content and kind of functionality to be expected.
4. Names and titles
If the titles you use for sections and pages in your menus are in any way ambiguous or not instantly obvious to users then confusion will set in. The user will make impulse or trial clicks. If they don't find what they want they will become frustrated.
Try to find titles that describe the kind of content to be found on the pages behind the names. Most importantly keep the logic behind the way you title consistent throughout so the user doesn't have to shift modes of interpreting. Any logic behind the ordering of links in sub sections should also remain consistent.
5. Naming Conventions
If there are naming conventions that are understood in the mind of the user (or on the web) then use them. It will mean instant cognitive orientation. And the corollary should be observed too, don't use names / titles / terms that are conventions if the information you're taking them too doesn't correspond to the kind of content expected from such a title. Try not to re-invent the wheel or be too flamboyant with language.
6. How deep to click?
It should be clear on the menu, through the use of names, what the relationship between tier two, three and four level sections and pages are within sections in the menu. That way a user knows how deep within the menu to click. Several people may be confronted with the same body of content and will in their own different ways need to enter that content at different points in order to gain the understanding they require.
Jakob Nielson speaks about the idea of the 'Inverted Pyramid' structure in websites. The 'Inverted Pyramid' is the idea that clicking into a site from a home page takes you into a broadening out of content. For instance, he recommends that an article on the web begins with the conclusion or clearly outlining the purpose and outcome, from there a user can dig deeper into content if it is interesting or relevant to them.
The same principle applies to the architecture of entire sections. One word on a menu is the section name and from there the content and sub sections expand out. A user with the freedom to dive deep into the pyramid will need to know exactly where they are going and what they're going to get if they aren't meant to become frustrated in the mess of information beneath a few simple words.
7. Different ways of doing the same thing
Make sure there's an alternative way to navigate the site besides your dHTML menu. A useable
search function on all pages and hyperlink structures on pages to allow people to move forward through subsections.
8. Bread crumbs
Make sure you still include 'bread crumb' trails as part of the
interface and navigation. This shows the user the path they took to the page they are on or the relationship of the page they are on to the home page or major section they are in.
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This will help a user to establish a mental model of the site and it helps even more when the freedom of movement offered by these menu's can land a user anywhere in a site.
9. Visually separate different kinds of navigation
Be extra careful if all navigation options for the site sit in the dHTML menu. The full amount of content on a site can be simplified on a site interface by visually grouping navigation of different types (or purpose) in different areas on the interface. Site tools can sit in one area (home, site map, search, contact, feedback), site content (products, about, buy, demo's) or personal elements (log in, personalisation elements). At a glance users have an idea of where they should start clicking.
To group all elements in one massive dHTML menu means even greater amounts of time spent by a user who has to move through the menu looking for what they need (and then we hope that the naming on the menu is accurate and intuitive enough to lead the user to where they want to go to).
End Note
Even if there are several clicks before a user comes to the information they require, if the journey to that point is clearly an opening up of relevant content in the pyramid to where they want to be then the journey will be rewarding and the experience positive.
End
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