In this post, I do a have a couple of navigation tips to share that can help you while setting up your website.

• Before starting to design, first prepare your site navigation. This can prevent messing up your site.
• Always the logo that reflects your site should be linked to your website homepage.
• Think of placing the navigation in the right place. I would suggest take the top just below the header or the left position. Stop designing out of the box.
• If your site contains too many links, then try to place a drop down menu for main topics. If you are using Dreamweaver, then you can use their drop down menus which are in-built.
• Try to keep consistent navigation throughout your site. Avoid placing the navigation system horizontally on one page or vertically on the left in another.
• Avoid complicating your visitors with too many choices. Lead them along your planed course.
• Always maintain a sitemap which helps people to look for the content on the site. Well, you may wonder I myself do not have a sitemap. I should say this theme has problems with sitemap and I’ll be fixing it soon. As for now, I do have the Archives page and you can find all the articles there.
• Keep your main links together at one place. This will help the surfers absorb what your site conveys at once.
• Use your navigation space efficiently. What I mean is, try to use short and precise words in your links. This will help the visitor know what the corresponding page contain.
• When you link the website logo to your homepage, it is ideal to have a link called Home. This can make easier in returning back to the main page.
• Also showcase important links. This can interest your visitors.
• Finally, a good navigation menu can lesser the number of clicks required to move from one page to another. A rule concerning this is to keep the number of clicks from one page to another at 3.

Below are some of the designing tips I have listed.

1. Navigation: Navigation of links on the site can make a bigger sense in deciding the stickiness of the site. Point to remember is, visitors staying in your site for long. How long they stay and explore your site? So always design an easy and neat navigation that interests your visitors and makes them stay and read your content for long.

2. Loading Time: Always you should keep your load time low. How to keep it low? Alright, here are some points on how you can lower your load time.

Minimize Graphics, Flash and scripts: These increase the file size.
Enhance your HTML & script code: See that your site doesn’t have any unwanted tags or unused scripts.
Using Server Side Include (SSI) files can be of worth. Try using SSI files wherever possible. SSI files once called from the web server reside in its cache so on subsequent requests they load faster.

3. Layout Design: Coming to the site design, of course as always designing is the blood of a website. The more attractive the looks, the more people feel like navigating your site. Clean layouts that use a lot of white space enhance site’s looks. Also, focus on your content. Use neat and simple fonts that are available on all computers to prevent your site from looking messed up.

4. Designing your site for all Screen Resolutions: Moving on, when designing, see that the site is easy-to-use. This can encourage your visitors to stay on and read your content. Sometimes people who visit your site may close the browser after visiting your site if your site doesn’t look good for a particular resolution because it can raise a feeling among them that the webpage is not for their viewing. So always design stretch layouts that fit any resolution. This will ensure that you know all your visitors see a visually appealing site.

5. Browser Compatible: Make sure that your site can work under all browser platforms. The common browsers are Internet Explorer 5+, Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and above, Opera 7.0 and Netscape Navigator 6+. These browsers almost constitute 95% of the worlds browsers.

6. Ensuring Web site scalability: Also you should check whether your code and design is scalable. It is important to ensure web site scalability because technology today will be old and outdated for tomorrow. So as technology advances it is impossible to test the site in all screen sizes and platforms.

Alright, plan properly and create the ultimate site looks. Good luck!