Simple navigation

Permanent navigation - your global site nav that appears on every page as part of the page template - needs to be clearly identifiable as navigation, and should be easy to interpret, target and select.

• 2.0 design makes global navigation large, bold, clean and obvious.
• Inline hyperlinks (links within text) are typically clearly differentiated from normal text.

Why simple navigation is better

Users need to be able to identify navigation, which tells them various important information:

• Where they are (in the scheme of things)
• Where else they can go from here
• And what options they have for doing stuff

Following the principle of simplicity, and general reduction of noise, the best ways to clarify navigation are:

• Positioning permanent navigation links apart from content
• Differentiating navigation using colour, tone and shape
• Making navigation items large and bold
• Using clear text to make the purpose of each link unambiguous

How to keep your navigation simple

Simply remember the key: navigation should be clearly distinguishable from non-navigation.

Just follow the guidelines above, regarding differentiation through position, colour and clarity.

Inline hyperlinks should also stand out sufficiently from the text around them.