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Designing Hypertext Navigation Tools
Brian Bevirt
Digital Information Group, Scientific Computing Division,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA
Abstract: A common problem with hypertext information systems is that their organization is obscure, and this can
hinder users. Developers can address this problem by providing navigation tools that help users find their way to the
information they need. But before you can develop effective navigation tools, you must first understand the
organizational scheme of your information system. This step--developing a simplified picture of your information
system--can be the most difficult task in creating effective navigation tools. This paper describes some useful ways you
can visualize the organizing principles of your information. Then it describes a variety of navigation tools that can
reveal the structure of your information to your users: home page link, reference table links, "previous" and "next" links,
table of contents, image maps (hierarchy charts, grids, other), search engines, and indexes.
Navigation Tools Can Keep Users Oriented
Navigation tools are features of hypertext documents that allow people who browse those documents to link to another
location. Navigation tools like "previous" and "next" buttons are basic forms; more sophisticated tools like graphical
maps also help orient the person who is browsing the information. The purpose of a navigation tool is to help people
find only the information they need, so they can move on to their next task.
This paper describes an approach that will help you design and plan navigation tools to maximize the usability of the
information in your hypertext documentation.
Standard Terms for This Presentation
To standardize the terminology in this presentation, I use the language appropriate for a World Wide Web site that
provides HTML-coded files for people using browsers like Netscape. A "document" is a hypertext file that contains any
combination of text, graphics, and audio. A "web site" is a collection of related documents provided by a hypertext
server (by this definition, one server may have multiple web sites). A "browser" is a software application capable of
displaying HTML-coded text and graphics on a computer screen. A "user" is the person who is using the browser to
access the information.
Navigating Web Sites Can Be Confusing
Web sites can confuse users simply because there is no pattern for this new kind of "place" embedded in our cultural
consciousness. Put another way, there seem to be no widely agreed-upon spatial topologies or other organizing
principles for a multi-dimensional electronic information space [Lynch 1995].
When you hold and read a book, you have a wealth of visual and tactile cues about the information it offers you.
Further, centuries of cultural tradition have standardized an extensive background of knowledge about how that
information is presented: with only a few exceptions, a book has a title on the cover or the spine, it is organized in a
linear sequence (starting at the front and ending at the back), it has page numbers, headings for chapters and sections, a
table of contents near the front, and probably an appendix at the back that includes an index. And if you have a basic
education, you know what all of these things are and what they mean to you as a reader.
A hypertext document in a web site is not a book; it does not come packaged with familiar cues and a long-standing
cultural tradition. No organizing principles have yet been widely agreed upon for hypertext information systems. Yet
many useful web sites exist. The following approach can help you design navigation tools to make your web site more
usable.
Adapt Familiar Cues to the New Medium
Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it's easier said than done! But much of the groundwork has already been laid. You can use