When people visiting our website, it is very important to make them comfortable surfing inside it. Good Navigation is the key. We’re not only talking about navigation bar. We’re talking about the whole web design. Good navigation can be the result of good web design plus quality web programming.
How important does this good navigation anyway? Let’s just put it this way. If people come to your site for the first time, and they can’t find a way to what they are looking for, that’s a bad experience for them, and a bad impression for your site. Don’t expect them to return after that situation.
Maybe the navigation bar plays a big role in this navigation thing, but beside that, don’t forget that our site also have graphic link (banner, etc), footer navigation, site map page, and text hyperlink. They are all members of the team of good web navigation.
Have them all easily accessible and you’re one step closer to have high web usability. But the most important thing beside all that is: Well-organized information structure. Put all information and item into the relevant categorization, so when people look for something, they just need to look on the list of categories.
Beside categorization, also mind the flow on activity that takes several page/step, like registration or product purchase. Make sure they can took each step clearly. And also make sure they can go back anytime to correct anything they think they screwed up on the previous page.
So never let people lost in your site because of bad navigation.