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Updated: 11/08/2004 07:32:17 PM (Broken Link? Report It Here) |
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Navigation Area
What is the purpose of the Navigation Hints and Tips area? Many times one has enough knowledge about a subject to be beyond the need of a tutorial but not enough to know exactly how to accomplish a certain task or reach a certain goal. Often one finds himself needing to learn how to do just one small thing instead of a receiving a full course instruction. And then there are times where you learn something interesting and useful just by browsing around; but without really intending to learn. That's the purpose of the Navigation Hints and Tips area - to teach you something small, but interesting and useful. To show you how to do just one thing at a time and help you reach your goal. More importantly, to provide you the opportunity to learn something new each day; which is a goal most people envision and strive for. Membership requirements for Giz Gears. This interactive area within Giz Gears does not require an active Giz-Net Network membership in order to participate.
When you visit a website you will often type the URL as something like http://www.giz-net.com in your browser. This basically says go to that domain and load the designated default page for the root directory of that website. If you enter something like http://www.giz-net.com/images/, the default page for that directory is loaded. The default name that web servers use depends on how its configuration. The most common default names are index.html, index.htm, index.asp, default.html, default.htm. How do you know which default name is designated for your website? By checking with your website hosting company. If there isn't a default page in the specific directory, most servers will display all the files that are contained within that directory. This could be a problem if you have files in directories that you don't want the public to access. You can prevent this from happening by adding a default page. A redirection page, or an error page that tells viewers, "You are not authorized to view this page" are the most commonly used default pages for directories that you don't want accessed.
Add a Title attribute to your links to create mini-popup descriptions: <A HREF="http://www.giz-net.com/gizgears/index.html" TITLE="Cool Website Design Hints, Tips, Tools and Tutorials!">Giz Gears</a> Move your mouse over this link, Giz Gears to see it in action.
To open all links on your webpage in a new window, place the code below in between your <head></head> tags. <base target="_blank"> Why would you want to do that? This method allows visitors to explore links that are not part of your website without having to leave your website. Returning to your website is as simple as closing the new window. Be careful in using this code though as it will also cause any links to your other web pages to open in a new window. This type of code is perfect for link exchange web pages.
Send your visitor to another page automatically by inputting this code in-between your <head></head> tags with the rest of your metatags: <META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="10; URL=http://www.yoursite/newpage.htm"> Perfect tool for redesigned pages! Click here to see it in action.
1. People generally expect to find navigation menus at the top or on the left side of your webpage. These menus have links to the various pages of your site. 2. Try to keep the number of links in your menu to a minimum. 3. Don't separate pages for similar content unless absolutely necessary. 4. Try to keep all the information as brief as possible. 5. Be clear with your link descriptions to avoid confusion; which is one of the sure-fire site killers.
If you give your visitors a quick search box that returns relevant results from your site, you will be surprised at how many of them will use it. This kind of navigation help for the visitor is greatly appreciated. There are several scripts and service providers that spider your site so you can provide this service. Usually you can find one just by visiting a website that already offers it.
People use tools that get the results they need and they will avoid the ones that don't work. If your visitors actually use the search tools you provide for them then the technology you deploy, and the information assets they find, are valued time investments. If not, then the effort has been wasted and could potentially damage your website's popularity. Ask your search users what they think of your current search tool and what they think you could do to make it better.
1. Make Searching Your Website Faster - Searching your website should be fast because faster searching encourages users to search your website more often. Choose a search technology that's simple to use and returns results quickly. 2. Make Your Search Component Omnipresent - Ensure users can access your search component from any page on your website. Include a search box or at least a link to a search page on every webpage. Include a search box for subsequent searches on all your search results pages. 3. Keep Your Search Pages Clean and Simple - Your search page layout matters. Keep your main search page simple by putting your advanced search features on a separate page. On the results pages for your search component, keep the navigational elements that aren't search-related to a minimum. 4. Crawl As Much Content As Possible - The biggest reason why people don't find things on your website through your search component is that they aren't there. If a document is important and you want it found during a search conducted on your website, make sure it gets into the index of the search component so it will be crawled like your other webpages. 5. Don't Forget To Crawl Your Non-HTML Content - Make sure your non-HTML content gets into the index of the search component so it will be crawled like your regular webpages. Examples of non-HTML content are Portable Digital Files (.pdf), Microsoft Word Documents (.doc), Microsoft Excel (.xls), and Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) files. 6. Don't Be Lazy When It Comes To Publishing - Share as much information with your visitors as you can by publishing the information you have even if it feels like to much work. 7. Crawl Your Secure Content - Let your search engine crawl secure information (password-protected areas and HTTPS content. Don't block documents that don't need to be secure. Give everyone a view of all generally available information, while using authentication to display protected documents only to authorized users.
Contributions for Giz Gears. If you have a great web design source you would like to share, please let me know! I give credit for all sources of contributions; links, tutorials, downloads, hints, tips, etc. If you would like to see other pages added to this area, please let me know either through email or through the Forum. |
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