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Many studies have shown that navigation and flow are two of the most important elements to consider when designing a web site. "Look and feel" plays an important role, however, keeping the viewer at the site with easy to find topics and the ability to travel from one section of the site to another and then easily return to the viewer’s original location is imperative. In doing this it is hoped to also come up with a professional design (look and feel) that adds visual interest and presents the content in the clearest way possible. That is the reason a flow chart should be provided by the web development company. It allows you to see just how easily the viewer can go from one topic or section to another, or, find what they are looking for, make a contact/purchase and exit the site. Both elements should be discussed by the company’s Web Partner at the beginning of the project.

The "Main Menu" is the roadmap for navigation into your company’s web site. It must be clearly understood by everyone viewing the site. Its importance cannot be underestimated. There are two extremes as to how a website's navigation system can be designed.

One system would include a link to every page in the site on the Home page. While this would be convenient for the user in that everything is available in one click, the larger a site is the more confusing and overwhelming the Home page will become.

The opposite of this would be a minimum of links on the Home page with each link going to another set of links, then another set of links and so on. Obviously this can also have drawbacks in that, the deeper the user has to click through, to arrive at what is being searched for, it becomes more and more work and more frustrating.

The art of site navigation is in arriving at a balance between these two systems. It becomes a compromise of how many initial links to provide and how many clicks it takes to find what the user is searching for.

Ideally everything in a web site can be provided on two levels. The first level would be the Home page and links to each main section of the web site. After the user clicks on any of these top level links he would go to that section and would be presented with a secondary set of links that would apply only to that section. The "sections" of the web site pertain to the main topic items that a viewer will be looking for when entering the site for the first time. The "sections" will eventually become "Button Links." When the viewer’s cursor is run over a Button Link it will show as a "hotlink." A click on this hotlink will take the viewer to that particular section. The hard work in designing a website is in manipulating the information/functions of a site to work within this framework.

Selecting the "Main Menu" words from the recommendations of the Point Person is very important at this juncture. A minimum number of words per Button Link, usually one or two, is all that should be considered, obviously by space. Sometimes depending on the words, easily recognizable abbreviations will be recommended. These words will convey instantly what each section is about without really having to stop and read each word.

"Main Menu Links" are the links provided on the Home page that show all of the sections of the web site. These can include "Home (History)," "Staff/Bios," "Products/Services," "In The News," "Articles" and "Contact." In each case of a Main Navigation Panel Button Link there may be a need for a "Drop Down" menu. A Drop Down menu becomes viewable when the cursor is rolled over a specific Button Link. It expands that particular section in order to show what that particular section deals with.

In some cases there may be a Secondary Navigation Panel located on the Home page that leads to specific areas of that respective section that the company is involved in. Location and design of the Secondary Navigation Panel should not interfere with the Main Navigation panel. Each Secondary Navigation Link may be broken down to even finer topics related to that respective product or service.

Flow - There will be viewers looking at your company’s entire web site just to see what you do. The ease a first time viewer has when touring the site is important. The ability to go from one section/topic to another and then back again or to another part of the site easily will keep the viewer on the site. This allows the viewer the ability to go more in depth on a specific topic for their own reasons, or, pass on the topics that they have stumbled across and pass on to someone they know.

Flow also makes it easier for a viewer to go directly to the section of the site they are looking for with as few clicks as possible. If the site is set up correctly when the viewer does a search for their topic on their search engine the query leading to your firm’s site will take the viewer directly to the page with the topic they are looking for. There is no need to get to the site then have to look for the topic. In this section/page there may be other links related to the topic the viewer has searched for. This gives them the option of checking these other links for additional information or for them to continue to the Contact page, and then back again to the respective page they were looking at.