The free-flowing nature of information in a nonlinear hypertext environment can be confusing to navigate. Help your users find content easily rather than making them hunt through a maze of choices. Let your users know where they are at all times and where they can go within your Web site. In this chapter you will learn to build user-focused navigation within the hypertext environment to accomplish these goals. Then you will get a chance to apply these skills in a Hands-on Project.
When you complete this chapter, you will be able to:
- Create usable navigation
- Build text-based navigation
- Link with a text navigation bar
- Add contextual linking
- Use graphics for navigation and linking
This zip file contains the files shown in Figure 4-3.
Web Monkey
FrontEnd.com
The Guardian
Case Project
Examine the flowchart you created for your Web site. Consider the requirements of
both internal and external navigation. Create a revised flowchart that shows the variety
of navigation options you are planning for the Web site.
Using your HTML editor, mark up examples of navigation bars for your content. Make
sure your filenames are intact before you start coding. Save the various navigation bars
as separate HTML files for later inclusion in your Web pages.
Plan the types of navigation graphics you want to create. Sketch page banners, navigation
buttons, and related graphics. Find sources for navigation graphics. For example, you
can use public domain (noncopyrighted) clip art collections on the Web for basic navigation
arrows and other graphics.
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