Text navigation, an often overlooked promotional aid

Good website design depends on a consistent look across all webpages, but an often overlooked element is navigation. When it comes to navigation, there are many options open to website designers; one may use graphics, flash etc. as navigational systems on their websites. The larger the website the more crucial is the need for a good navigation system.

Although one may use one of the many navigational systems available, it is important to always include text navigation as well. This way everyone can benefit from the links on your webpages, not just those with fancy plug-ins and other options.

By using text navigation you’re offering your content to visitors with disabilities. Also, you’re providing more content to index.

Here’s how you can make good use of text navigation for your website:

Create a Sitemap. A sitemap helps your visitors visualize the structure of your website and it also helps search engine spiders to index your entire site. Be sure to include a link to your sitemap on every page.

Use descriptive links. When creating links, make sure they are self explanatory, for example, instead of a link to “books” you could use a description such as “Books on every topic imaginable ”. This not only helps your visitors but is also a good search engine optimization practice.

Use Title’s for your links. The title tag for links works like the ALT tag. It might not work on all browsers but it is a good effect to use.

Create Text Only options. You can reproduce all your pages without the graphics and have text only versions. This will help visitors who surf with the graphics options turned off and it is also extra content for the search engines to spider.

Accessibility is crucial for a good website. Visitors visit your website looking for information. You want your visitor to be able to access this information without much hassle and as quickly as possible. Creating text navigation ensures greater accessibility along with making your website more search engine friendly.