| Adding Navigation
Once you have more than a page or two on your site, you need to
think about how your visitors can navigate around your site.
In looking around the internet, we've all seen a lot of
different navigation styles. You need to decide a few
things about your navigation.
First, you need to decide what kind of links you want: Plain Text Links
home
my family
what's new
genealogy Text links inside colored tables
Text on buttons
   
There are other types of navigation out there, too - like
drop-down menus which would require some special coding like
javascript. However, if you're just starting into web
design, I'd keep it more simple like those above.
Next, you
need to decide the placing of your navigation on the page.
It can be in many different places on your page:
- at the top (one of the most common)
- at the bottom (only effective if the page is short - no
scrolling and it shows on screen)
- on the left side (like this page)
- on the right side (not very common as we tend to read from
the left)
- at the top and bottom (when it's a long page and visitors
won't want to scroll back to top)
Once you've decided how your navigation will look, stick to
it. Keep your navigation the same throughout your site.
Don't put it at the top on one page - the left on another -
the right on another. Once visitors enter your site,
they will want a uniform way to navigate around and won't want
to have to figure out all over again on each page they visit.
Use the same text in the same location on every page.
Finally, decide what links you want to put on your
navigation bar.
Only so many links will work. Too
many just make it confusing for the visitors rather than showing
them exactly what's available. So make the links to the
more important parts of your website, from which they can access
further information and links. NOTE: Navigation
bars are a necessity, but they may not be all you need.
Once your site gets larger than a few pages, you'll need to
consider creating a
site map.
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