In developing Casa de Lewis’ bare bone XHTML I decided to go against the common practice of using an unordered list for the site’s main navigation. Instead, I opted to utilize a short paragraph at the top of every page to inform the visitor of the site’s contents.
In the example below, which is currently used on this site, I entice the visitor to read my journal and check out the projects I’m working on.
Welcome to Casa de Lewis. Read the house journal covering all things related to projects by Mark Lewis.
As simple as these two sentences are, they are extremely powerful. They welcome the user and encourage participation. It tells the user to take an action, unlike the passive tone of most unordered list navigation. Also, the paragraph is twofold in that it defines the purpose of the site.
First-time visitors are guided by the paragraph of text as opposed to individual obscure words. I can’t count the times I have guided my mother through what I would consider an easily navigable website. She’s not alone. And re-occurring visitors don’t suffer because menu links can be emphasized too eliminate the need to read the context surrounding the links.
Some designers argue that a design or interface shouldn’t make the user have to think. I disagree with this position. I want my visitors to engage with the website and its content. Last time I checked I wasn’t designing a website for zombies.