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HomeGuidelines > 6. Make meaningful menus!. > 6e. When users arrive at the target, make it obvious.          

 

Diagram

Background

Examples

Audience Fit

Challenge

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6e. When users arrive at the target, make it obvious.

  • Make the linktext in a menu item match the title of the target page--exactly, if possible.
  • Make headings relate to the menu item (and make them echo the title).
  • Make menu items—and titles—descriptive, so users know in advance what the page will be about.
  • Confirm that the link worked, through echoes of the linktext in introductory text.
  • Repeat key terms from the linktext in any caption for a picture near the top of the page.
  • If you do not confirm arrival, many people will think they clicked the wrong link, and they will go back.  Many never return.

  Diagram

 
 

 

 

Background

One potentially helpful rule is to use the exact words in the high-level menu as the titles for the next lower-level menu. It is reassuring to users to see an item such as Business and Financial Services and, after it has been selected, a screen that is titled Business and Financial Services. It might be unsettling to get a screen titled Managing Your Money, even though the intent is similar. Imagine looking in the table of contents of a book and seeing a chapter title such as "The American Revolution," but when you turn to the indicated page, finding, "Our Early History"—you might worry about whether you had made a mistake, and your confidence might be undermined. Using menu items as titles may encourage the menu author to choose items more carefully so that they are descriptive in two contexts. —Shneiderman (1992)

Use descriptive titles. Put a descriptive TITLE tag in your HTML code. When users add a bookmark for your page, the title is used as the title of the user’s browser window and as the bookmark. Be sure to use a title that tells where the bookmark leads to on every page of your site. —Apple (1999)

All documents need clear titles to capture the reader’s attention, but for several reasons peculiar to the Web this basic editorial element is especially crucial. The document title is often the first thing browsers of World Wide Web documents see as the page comes up. In pages with lots of graphics, the title may be the only thing the users see for several seconds as the graphics download onto the page. Additionally, the page title will become the text of a browser "bookmark" if the user chooses to add your page to their list of URLs. A misleading or ambiguous title, or a title that contains more technical gibberish than English will not help the user remember why they bookmarked your page.
Editorial landmarks like titles and headers are the fundamental human interface issue in Web pages, just as they are in any print publication.

Lynch and Horton(1999)

Use highly visible page headers to provide location feedback. —Microsoft (2000)

Users do not understand where they are in a website’s information architecture. —Nielsen (2000a)

Do not assume users can remember their entire browsing session. Provide breadcrumbs and other location tools. —Nielsen (2000b)

See bibliography: Apple (1999), Krug (2000), Lynch and Horton (1999), Microsoft (2000), Nielsen (2000a, 2000b), Shneiderman (1992).
 

Other ways to make your menus meaningful:

6a. Think of a heading as an object you reuse many times.

6b. Write each menu so it offers a meaningful structure.

6c. Offer multiple routes to the same information.

6d. Write and display several levels at once.

6f. Confirm the location by showing its position in the hierarchy.

Resources on menus

Taking a Position on Menus

Heuristic Online Text (H. O. T.) Evaluation of Menus

Poster

 

 

Examples

Before

Menu item: Customer Service

Page title: FAQ

After

Menu item: FAQ

Page title: FAQ

 

Before

Menu item: How Branding Adds Value

Title: Branding and Value

Major Heading: What Good is a Brand—to the customer?

First sentence: Your brand adds value—for the customer.

After

Menu item: How Branding Adds Value

Title: How Branding Adds Value

Major Heading: How Branding Adds Value—for the Customer

First sentence: Your brand adds value—for the customer.

 

Before

Menu item: Make Customers Bow Down to Your Logo as a Cult Object

Title: Your Logo as a Cult Object

Caption: McDonald’s has instant recognition in Peking.

After

Menu item: Your Logo as a Cult Object

Title: Your Logo as a Cult Object

Caption: Crowds worship at the icon of the cult of the golden arches, Peking.

 
 

Audience Fit
 
If visitors want... How well does this guideline apply?
To have fun The misleading link, the confusing title, the heading that's not apropos, a skewed intro, and off-topic captions can be seen as intriguing, if your audience likes solving puzzles.  If they just want to have fun, maybe not.
To learn Confirm arrival, to avoid distracting the learner.
To act Not following the guideline simply makes the user think and do more than expected, just to find out how to carry out the original task.  Not cool.
To be aware Be gentle, even if your prose seems plain.  Confirm that your guest has arrived.  Pour some tea.
To get close to people Don't get them angry at you with loused-up links and misleading pages.

Ready for a challenge?

Don't make me take an ax to your menu!

 

 

 

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