Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [135]
Figure 12-10: Rapid City, South Dakota: What to Do
Repetition is an important part of reinforcing the content. The information on the What to Do page repeats the subnavigation topics, and the information is presented within a high context of related images. All of the navigation information is consistent and directed:
URL: http://www.visitrapidcity.com/whattodo/
Page title: Rapid City Things to DO – Family Attractions, Shopping, Dining
Page heading: What To Do in Rapid City
Subnavigation content heading: What to Do
Breadcrumb navigation path: Home page > What To Do
In the next level of content, the subnavigation becomes an even more useful tool to help the visitor know their placement within the content structure of the website and the relation to other information. The selected Arts and Culture link becomes bold, indicating that it is the active page (see Figure 12-11). In addition, the content structure of the navigation tools is still consistent because the URL, breadcrumb navigation, page heading, and subnavigation all change to reflect the visitor’s location in the Arts & Culture section.
Figure 12-11: Rapid City, South Dakota: What to Do – Arts and Culture
An important note at this point is the subnavigation text feature while on this page. The Arts and Culture text in the subnavigation is larger and bolder, which also makes it more contrasting in comparison with the rest of the navigation choices. This is a visual cue to visitors that this is the active page they are viewing, and the rest are related pages.
As with the earlier pages, the content on the age is then supported with features of the Arts and Culture content, accompanied by links within the content that take the visitor to more information about each activity. The links are provided in context, with a clear separation between content areas, and all of the links utilize clear text in the link. Using text within the link notifies the visitor that further information about the linked text is only a click away. This is important to note! Chapter 16 will go into much more detail about the value of these text links, and this is a great example of presenting links in a highly contextual format.
Utilizing simple layout techniques such as text size, text button contrast, and text color can help visitors easily locate themselves within the content as well as utilize the visual cues for finding related information and the calls to action.
Case Study: Navigation as Beautiful Function
The trends in developing navigation are based on providing the most information that will appeal to the most visitors. This is accomplished by providing multiple paths to information within the site (using the home page as a directional hub, not a destination) and relying less upon the main navigation bar as the only navigation tool. Visitors are able to navigate the site and find important content as it is presented on the page and in various other navigational tools. The primary navigation has had to evolve and provide clear direction to the content within the site but also be tastefully presented in context of the website. Too many drop-downs or flyouts in a menu can cover up the content and create usability problems. One of the more impressive examples of overcoming with these factors is the National Public Radio website, www.NPR.org (see Figure 12-12).
Figure 12-12: NPR home page structure
On this page, the information and top stories are easily visible, because the headlines are bold and larger than the body text. The headlines are different sizes, which relate importance and a hierarchy to the articles. The global navigation runs near the top of the page but is not a primary element of the immediate information display. It is not until a visitor specifically selects one of the main navigation options that a large field of links