3.1. STAYING FOUNDLet's say you've built a large web site or application that you've had to break up into sections, subsections, specialized tools, pages, windows, and wizards. How do you help users navigate? Signposts are features that help users figure out their immediate surroundings. Common signposts include page and window titles, web page logos and other branding devices, tabs, and selection indicators. Patterns such as Global Navigation, Color-Coded Sections, Sequence Map, Breadcrumbs, and Annotated Scrollbarall described in this chaptertell a user where they currently are, and often, where they can go with only one more jump. They help a user stay "found" and plan his next steps. Wayfinding is what people do as they find their way towards their goal. The term is pretty self-explanatory. But how people actually do it is quite a research subjectspecialists from cognitive science, environmental design, and web site design have studied it. These common-sense features help users with wayfinding:
In this chapter, the Clear Entry Points pattern is an example of careful signage combined with environmental cluesthe links should be designed to stand out on the page. A Sequence Map, obviously, is a map; you can use Overview Plus Detail (Chapter 6) to show maps for virtual spaces, too. Modal Panel sort of qualifies as an environmental clue, since the ways out of a modal panel take you right back to where you just were. I compared virtual spaces to physical ones here. However, virtual spaces have the unique ability to provide a navigational trump card, one that physical spaces can't (yet) provide: the Escape Hatch. Wherever you are, click on that link, and you're back to a familiar page. It's like carrying a wormhole with you. Or a pair of ruby slippers. |