Navigation Schemes

i.Navigation Goals:

• A well designed navigation system facilitates quick & easy navigation between components whose structure & relationship are easily comprehensible.
• For the user,answers to the following questions must be obvious at all times during an interaction: Where am I now?Where did I come from?Where can I go from here?How can I get there quickly?
• General system navigation guidelines include the following.

• Control

  For multilevel menus,provide one simple action to:

  • Return to the next higher-level menu.
  • Return to the main menu.
  • Provide multiple pathways through a menu hierarchy whenever possible.

• Menu Navigation Aids

  To aid menu navigation & learning,provide an easily accessible:

  • Menu map or overview of the menu hierarchy.
  • A “look ahead” at the next level of choices, alternatives that will be presented when a currently viewed choice is selected.
  • Navigation history.

ii.Web Site Navigation:

• In designing a Web Site Navigation scheme there are two things to take in consideration:

  • Never assume that users know as much about a site as the site designers do.
  • Any page can be an entry point into the website.
• Web site navigational design includes:
  • Web site organization Divide content into logical fragments,units or chunks.

Establish a hierarchy of generality or importance.

• Components of a Web Navigation System To move between Web site information fragments necessitates the creation of navigation links.

General link guidelines are:

-Sensible

-Available

-Obvious & Distinctive

-Consistent

-Textual

-Provide multiple navigation paths

• Browser Command Buttons Hide the split between the browser & the Web site application by including navigational controls within the application.

• Web Site Navigation Bars

  • Provide a global navigation bar at the top of each page.
  • Provide a local category or typical links navigation bar on the left side of a page.

• Textual Phrases

Provide a mix of textual phrase links: -In explicit menus. -Embedded within page text.

• Graphical Images or Icons

Graphical images or icons may appear in an array in the form of a navigation bar or be individually located at relevant points in a page.

• Command Buttons

Command buttons may appear in an array in the form of a navigation bar or be individually located at relevant points in a page.

Selection of Window:

Window Characteristics

• A name or title,allowing it to be identified.
• A size in height & width (which can vary).
• A state, accessible or active or not accessible.
• Visibility–the portion can be seen.
• A location,relative to the display boundary.
• Presentation–its arrangement with respect to other windows.
• Management capabilities.
• Highlighting.
• The function,task or application to which it is dedicated.

1.Attraction of Windows

• Presentation of Different Levels of Information.
• Presentation of Multiple Kinds of Information.
• Sequential Presentation of Levels or Kinds of Information.
• Access to Different Sources of Information.
• Combining Multiple Sources of Information.
• Performing More Than One Task.
• Reminding.
• Monitoring.
• Multiple Representations of the Same Task.

2.Constraints in Window System Design

• Historical Considerations
• Hardware Limitations
• Human Limitations

3.Window Management

• Single-Document Interface

It’s a single primary window with a set of secondary windows.

• Multiple-Document Interface

It’s a technique for managing a set of windows where documents are opened into windows.

Contains:

-A single primary window called the parent.

-A set of related document or child windows,each also essentially a primary window.

4.Organizing Window Functions

• Window Organization–organize windows to support user tasks.
• Number of Windows–minimize the number of windows needed to accomplish an objective.

5.Window Operations

i.Active window

• A window should be made active with as few steps as possible.
• Visually differentiate the active window from other windows.

ii.Opening a window

• Provide an iconic representation or textual list of available windows.
• If more than one object is selected & opened,display each object in a separate window.Designate the last window selected as the active window.

iii.Sizing windows

• Provide large-enough windows to present all relevant & expected information for the task.

iv.Window placement

• Position the window so it is entirely visible.

v.Window separation

• Crisply,clearly & pleasingly demarcate a window from the background of the screen on which it appears.

vi.Moving a window

• Permit the user to change the position of all windows.

vii.Resizing a window

• Permit the user to change the size of primary windows.