Navigation

Question 0

What is a navigational system?

Answer 0

*a visual representation of an organizational structure

Question 1

Describe Site-level navigation

Answer 1

• encompasses issues pertaining to understanding

* moving through inforrmati

Question 2

What are the 3 types of navigation systems?

Answer 2

*Hierarchical
*Ad hoc
*Database
(most common is hierarchical, with many ad hoc links added

Question 3

What 3 main strategies will help you to create an effective navigation system?

Answer 3

• Choose an appropriate navigation system that reflects the content’s organizational structure
• Choose visual navigation elements that build context for a user
• Be aware of the built-in services provided by Web browsers, and take full advantage of them

Question 4

Describe Global navigation

Answer 4

• consistently on every page of site
• navigation options for the entire site
• typically useful for small and simple websites

Question 5

How to show more levels in the hierarchy

Answer 5

*Drop-downs or pull downs can show the next level

Question 6

Describe Breadcrumbs

Answer 6

• helpful with websites that have 3 levels or more
• display a record of links that the user clicked in the process of traveling to the current page
• a record of a user’s trail through the site
  (ex: “Projects List > Computer Graphics”user clicked in Computer Graphics page)

Question 7

What are Subsites?

Answer 7

*is a collection of pages within the website that can share a common navigation system, 1 different perhaps different from the entire website as a whole

Question 8

Describe Local navigation

Answer 8

*helps users with accessing a subsite and complements the site’s global navigation

Question 9

What are Ad hoc navigation systems?

Answer 9

*are additional links that can help make the connections required by the contents relationships

Question 10

Describe Database-driven navigational system

Answer 10

• implements a database organizational structure
• rarely a sites main navigation system
• google.com prominently uses a database system

Question 11

What does building context mean?

Answer 11

*helping users understand where they are and where they are going while visiting a site.

Question 12

What are Navigation elements?

Answer 12

• are visual organizations of text and graphics that display a user’s options and current position in a site.
• navigation bars and menus are most common forms

Question 13

Describe Navigation bars

Answer 13

• are effective for implementing both global and local navigation systems
• collection of links that are grouped together on a page
• contain text-based and graphical types

Question 14

What are Labels?

Answer 14

are words presented as links in a navigation bar and represent paths to subsets of information held on a site.
*ex: Home - The main entry point of a website, generally containing the top-level links to the site

Question 15

What is a Frame?

Answer 15

*A scrollable pane that continuously occupies the same position in the browser window while a user navigates the site.

Question 16

What is a Site map?

Answer 16

*A graphical representation of a site’s information architecture

Question 17

What are the 2 types of Site maps?

Answer 17

• Textual
  
  • takes work
  • for a big site,must be selective
• Graphical
  
  • cool - for a small site

Question 18

What are some built-in browser features?

Answer 18

• History of pages visited
• Back/Forward buttons
• Color coding of links (unvisited, visited, and active)

Question 19

What are some Page-level navigation aids?

Answer 19

*Remember proximity, alignment, consistency: make the layout obvious
*Make size of text box appropriate to the amount of data
(How man forms filled out, where text boxes too small)
*Show which fields are required with * or “Required”
8Make button placement consistent:before or after its associated text

Question 20

How do you make Error reports clear?

Answer 20

• Say explicitly what the problem is
• Change color of offending box ( wrong input entered)
• Show as many errors as possible on 1 page
• Don’t make a user re-enter correct data