Navigation Influencers - II

Functions: the type of functions influences the choice for paradigms and components. For example, a list cannot be sorted in a carousel but can be in a table. Toolbars and ribbons are quite appropriate for common functions that are applicable throughout an application or a website instead of placing buttons at random within a webpage as it is currently done.

 Space: In case of several multiple choices that must be squeezed in a small area on the screen, drop down lists would take far less space than radio buttons even though the former require one click more than the latter.

 Personas: the type of users dictates the choices for navigation paradigms and components. For example, novice users prefer carousels, wheels, thumbnails, touch, and gesture interfaces over hierarchical trees, tables, and shortcut keys.

 Taxonomy: the information architecture has a great influence on navigation. For example, the content of a website could be organized by products or services, by type of visitors, by location, etc. For example, a government agency could organize its website to list all its forms in alphabetical order which would be very helpful for the employees of that agency who are intimately familiar with those forms, but useless for users who have no clue.

 Visibility: Toolbars and menus which include common functions must be visible at all times, or at least displayed upon hovering over a hot area, without having to scroll vertically, not to mention horizontally, which you can consider it at your peril.

 Universality: toolbars, panels, and maps which include common functions must appear on every page of a website.

 Consistency: consistency is a great virtue in usability because it satisfies expectancy. Since we are creatures of our habits, we can get used to the right and wrong things equally, even though we obviously prefer the right things. For example, even if a button has the wrong icon, is placed in the wrong location, and behaves in the wrong way, as long as that button consistently uses the same icon, is placed in the same location, and behaves in the same way every time it is dealt with, users will get used to it.