A type of secondary navigation, “breadcrumbs” (or “breadcrumb trails”) are a user friendly way of showing where the user is within a site. Breadcrumbs are normally found within sites that have more than 2 levels of navigational links. You’ll also see them in applications that have more than one step (”signposting”), for example on a checkout or booking system where a progress bar is needed.
Here’s some tips to help users find the content they are looking for. These tips show how to make headers more effective and easier to identify and apply to both page headers and content sub-headers. Although they aren’t the gospel they will definitely help and are things to consider when designing a site.
At FHOKE we have had years of experience in creating shopping baskets (carts for the US) and we are working on some great new projects at the moment for several eCommerce sites. The basket is probably the most important aspect of any eCommerce site. It functions as the checkout for an online retailer and as such, needs to be capable of displaying products in the best possible light. It can instill confidence and increase online purchases, or it can put potential customers off using a site altogether.
Providing your company’s contact details is possibly the most important section of your website. It is essential that your contact information is easily found on your website with the obvious Contact link, visible at all times.
Simple, concise and easy to understand information on your contact page is vitally important, whilst some companies will go the extra mile and provide multiple language versions for foreign visitors, as well as items like travel information (by train, parking, from the airport etc.), and print friendly map of how to find you the contact form remains King of these pages.
Creating a site that delivers a large amount of content is both a blessing and a curse. As an interface designer you must be careful not to overwhelm the layout and keep a clear path to help steer users to the information they are most interested in. Having a lot of content can be a good thing though. It gives you assets to keep the site interesting and creates that stickiness so people will repeat visit.
