Commentary on the original top 10 usability mistakes in web design - lack of navigation support

The eighth usability mistake in the list of original top 10 usability mistakes in web design by Jakob Nielsen (1996) is still as valid as it was back then, namely the lack of navigation support. Sometimes the web developers assume that their users know somehow inherently the structure of their web site no matter how deep and complex hierarchies it might have. So helping the users to navigate the web site is always important, no matter what technologies might be used. Breadcrumbs, site maps, searches and hierarchical menus (more about all these will be discussed later) are great ways of making the users life every bit easier. It is not enough that you know the structure of your web site as web designer, you must communicate this structure somehow to your users, or they will be either forever wandering in your site like rats in a maze or (more likely) they just leave as quickly as they can when they realize that finding anything from your site is almost impossible. So support the navigation!