Although creative graphics can add to the aesthetic value of the navigation, your primary goal is to make it easy for visitors to find their way to and from any part of the site you design. This article will discuss three different types of navigational structures that can be used to design an effective Web site. Representation of Sequential Navigation Sequential Navigation A sequential design is the most popular type of navigation structure for a Web site. This design is based on a sequence of pages that lead the user to a specific sequence of links. Each linked document covers a main topic in a sequence of information, while sub-topics that cover related information can also be accessed.
Sequential navigation has a very familiar look to the user.
It basically follows the structure of a book, where the reader goes sequentially from chapters to sections and then to subsections. Representation of Hierarchical Navigation Hierarchical Navigation A Hierarchical structure is another common type of navigation structure for a Web site. All documents are linked under a common home page. Linked documents can cover a main topic where a topic overview is given, followed by sequential or even hierarchical sub-topics. A hierarchical navigation structure has a very familiar look to the user.