Surprising results from user testing
A strange observation I made when carrying out user testing was how some users viewed certain navigation links as unnecessary and even confusing, if they also appeared in the page content. “Which one should I click” they would say. This really surprised me and more recently even a member of a “Web Department” made a similar observation when reviewing a wire-frame for some Intranet pages; “why is that link in two places? Shouldn’t we take out the link from the navigation if it’s already in the main body of content?”.
The benefits of a consistent navigation list of links was obvious to me, but it just proves how others may be thinking something very different. And they might have a point even if their solution isn’t necessarily a good one.
The most obvious solution would be to style the navigation links in a way that distinguished them apart from page links, perhaps resembling buttons or tabs and with some indication as to the current page, turning the links into a more recognisable navigation element.
But, in actual fact I kept the navigation as a simple list of links, due in part to the restrictions of such a large corporate Intranet site, and the fact that nobody else made such comments. The simplicity of the navigation that appeared in the same place on every page actually proved to be one of the most helpful elements on the site.
Consistency is such a useful and simple mechanism for improving the usability of any site.