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GOVERNMENT OR PUBLIC BODY WEBSITE
Hear Gerry McGovern speak live on how you can deliver better
services and have more satisfied customers and citizens by
better managing your website. This FREE webinar from Customer
Carewords takes place on July 8, 2008 @ 15:00 (Dublin,
Edinburgh, Lisbon, London), 10:00AM US Eastern Time (EDT) and
16:00 Central European Time. Register here:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/508225839

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Stockholm: June 11: Intranet keynote (PDF)
http://www.abilitypartner.se/Texter/Intranatdagarna%202008.pdf"

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DON'T DESIGN 'WHAT IF' NAVIGATION

Every time you add navigation options you add confusion and
complexity. Too much choice is the bane of web navigation.

I just got a new satellite navigation system for my car. Last
weekend I was driving from Dublin to Galway.

"Hi, I'm Navvy your friendly new navigation assistant."
"Hello Navvy"
"Where would you like to go?"
"Galway."
"Great. Let's go."

Sometime later ...

"Are you enjoying your trip?"
"Yes, Navvy. Thanks for asking."
"Just to let you know, there's a turn up ahead for Donegal."
"Hmm?"
"Oh, I just thought you might possibly change your mind about
Galway. Donegal is such a lovely place, and there's some great
deals on hotels there right now. Would you like to hear about
them?"
"No."
"Okay."

Sometime later ...

"It's me again."
"Yeah?"
"How about Kerry? There's a turn up ahead."
"I don't want to go to Kerry."
"Will I just leave the option on the screen in case you change
your mind?"
"No."
"What if you don't like Galway?"

Sometime later ...

"Do you need to know how to get back to Dublin?"
"I'm not even in Galway yet. Why on earth would I need to know
how to get back to Dublin?"
"Just thought you might be interested."
"Well, I'm not."
"Would you like me to show you all the possible places you could
go to from here? It's still not too late not to go to Galway,
you know. Or I could show you ... Please, please don't turn me
..."

Navvy the Navigator would not get a job on a car navigation
system. When we're driving we just want to see what's ahead of
us; where we're going. The Web is no different. We read website
navigation like we read a car navigation system. We're looking
for that exact link (next turn) we need to click on. We have a
destination in mind and we want to get there as quickly as
possible.

The worst possible thing you can do to a navigation system is
clutter it. The worst form of clutter is a series of options
that look the same. And where are these mistakes constantly
made? In the left column navigation.

The left column navigation should point forward; drive you
towards your destination. The BBC website is a really great
design. When you get to the homepage, you get two major options:
News and Sport.

Clicking on Sport gets you to a left column navigation beginning
with: Football, Cricket, Rugby Union, etc. (Notice it is not
alphabetical; it begins with the most popular, Football.)

Clicking on Football removes all the other Sport options and
shows you just Football ones. What if someone is interested in
Cricket? If I was interested in Cricket I'd have clicked on
cricket.

You keep clicking until you select, say, Manchester United. In
the left navigation you now see links such as Squad Selector,
Results, Fixtures, etc. The worst navigation systems would
continue to offer you Cricket in the left navigation. Of course,
that would result in a huge list of links in the left navigation
that would cause great confusion.

If I want to go to Galway I want to go to Galway. The job of
navigation is to help me get to Galway in the fastest, easiest
way possible.

Gerry McGovern
mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

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GOVERNMENT OR PUBLIC BODY WEBSITE -
Hear Gerry McGovern speak live on how you can deliver better
services and have more satisfied customers and citizens by
better managing your website. This FREE webinar from Customer
Carewords takes place on July 8, 2008 @ 15:00 (Dublin,
Edinburgh, Lisbon, London), 10:00AM US Eastern Time (EDT) and
16:00 Central European Time. Register here:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/508225839

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Comment on this post at our Giraffe Forum Blog
http://giraffeforum.com/wordpress/2008/06/01/dont-design-what-if-navigation/#respond


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RELATED LINKS

Information architecture
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/architect.htm

New Thinking Subject Classification
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/index.htm

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NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING
By Gerry McGovern - http://www.gerrymcgovern.com
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June 02, 2008 - Volume 13 Number 22
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You may quote freely from this issue once you give proper
attribution. (A link to www.gerrymcgovern.com would be
appreciated.)

Permission to re-publish an individual issue is given, once the

following conditions are met:
* Gerry McGovern is given proper recognition as author
* A link to Gerry McGovern's website is published with the
following text and URL:

Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com

* The piece is not modified in any way
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mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

WEBSITE LINK FOR THIS ISSUE:
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PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
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_________________________________________________________________
Published by Gerry McGovern (mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com)
Copyright (C) 2008 Gerry McGovern. All rights reserved.




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