How Including Signposts In Your Web Design Helps With Navigation

When users are forced to navigate an unfamiliar website, they often look for visual aids and cues that are designed to help steer them on the right path for their quest for information. Signposts are one of the more common visual aids included during the web design process, as they are highly effective at getting users to make their own decisions. In order to create a user friendly and successful website, designers need to take signposts into account from the very beginning.

• Hyperlinks
  In the eyes of many people, hyperlinks do not lie in the realm of web design – instead, they are something that the web development and content writing team must deal with. What these people haven’t taken into consideration, however, is that the designer is the person who settles on all of the colours for a website and where each colour should be used – it is important that they choose a colour for any hyperlinks included in the content that is readable yet still stands out as being something that is clickable.
• Design
  If the web development and content writing teams are not careful, however, they may find it increasingly easy to overwhelm visitors with excessive information in their links. Instead, some icons should be created during the web design process that give users an idea about where a particular link is going to take them, as this lessens the need for excessive link content. A square with an arrow pointing out of the top right hand corner, for example, is often used in a design to indicate that a link will take you to a whole new website.
• Navigation Bar
  This is the most important section when it comes to enabling users to easily navigate your site, and it is the job of the web design team to create a bar that is attractive yet easy to understand. They are often located along the top of the left-hand side of the page and are used to give visitors a sense of the purpose of the site. During the design process, however, it is important to note that a number of problems can arise, including: generic links that could be found on any website (such as “Home” or “Contact”) and links that don’t exist.

At the end of the day, it is important for all who work in the web design industry to remember that signposts are vital tools for ensuring that visitors to their websites can find their way around easily. Instead of looking at signposts as problem features that must be included on every page, look at them as being creative little design elements that really set your site apart from the rest and vastly improve the user experience.