Use DHTML with Caution!
Yes, we all love DHTML, and the most obvious use of DTHML is menu systems. Ask yourself this, are DHTML menus easy to use? For me, in 90% of the cases, the answer is no. I have certianly seen some great DHTML menus in my days that I really felt adding quite a bit to the website. But so often, I see them used just for the sake of using them, and they are poorly done. They are too small, the disappear to quickly, and are just generally hard to use. Half of the time, they don't work in all browsers, making it impossible to navigate the site, and other times they just don't work at all. And almost always, the DHTML menus use onclick="window.location" commands rather than good old standard hyperlinks. The problem with using JavaScript to navigate, spiders don't follow JavaScript.
Here's my advice on navigation. Only create DHTML menus if you really know what your doing. Otherwise, create a nice simple CSS rollover. It may not be as exciting, but it will be easy to use, and you won't leave out any users.
While I'm on my DTHML rant, DO NOT CREATE DHTML SCROLLERS!!! I don't know how many times I have seen a potentionaly decent site ruined because the creator decided they needed to add DTHML and created a scrolling advertisment that just look horrible. So the rule here is just don't do it.
Make Use of Bread Crumbs
Bread crumbs are the nice little navigation trail that you find in the top left of many sites. Bread crumbs are a representaiton of where the user has been within the site, and are a good way for people to find their way back to previous pages that they have visited. I personally don't use bread crumbs all the often myself, but I know many users who are hopelessly dependent on them.
Make the Banner Hot
It is a standard use model in websites to be able to click the banner and return to the home page. I started doing this about a year ago, and now any site that doesn't have this use model just makes me mad. Even if you have a home link in your bread crumb, or you have a home link in your menu, still make the banner hot.
Three Levels Deep Max
If at all possible, your content should never be more than three clicks away from where the browser enters your site. Anymore than that, then your browsers probably won't find your content at all. Try to find ways of arranging your content so that it is close to navigate to.
Yes, we all love DHTML, and the most obvious use of DTHML is menu systems. Ask yourself this, are DHTML menus easy to use? For me, in 90% of the cases, the answer is no. I have certianly seen some great DHTML menus in my days that I really felt adding quite a bit to the website. But so often, I see them used just for the sake of using them, and they are poorly done. They are too small, the disappear to quickly, and are just generally hard to use. Half of the time, they don't work in all browsers, making it impossible to navigate the site, and other times they just don't work at all. And almost always, the DHTML menus use onclick="window.location" commands rather than good old standard hyperlinks. The problem with using JavaScript to navigate, spiders don't follow JavaScript.
Here's my advice on navigation. Only create DHTML menus if you really know what your doing. Otherwise, create a nice simple CSS rollover. It may not be as exciting, but it will be easy to use, and you won't leave out any users.
While I'm on my DTHML rant, DO NOT CREATE DHTML SCROLLERS!!! I don't know how many times I have seen a potentionaly decent site ruined because the creator decided they needed to add DTHML and created a scrolling advertisment that just look horrible. So the rule here is just don't do it.
Make Use of Bread Crumbs
Bread crumbs are the nice little navigation trail that you find in the top left of many sites. Bread crumbs are a representaiton of where the user has been within the site, and are a good way for people to find their way back to previous pages that they have visited. I personally don't use bread crumbs all the often myself, but I know many users who are hopelessly dependent on them.
Make the Banner Hot
It is a standard use model in websites to be able to click the banner and return to the home page. I started doing this about a year ago, and now any site that doesn't have this use model just makes me mad. Even if you have a home link in your bread crumb, or you have a home link in your menu, still make the banner hot.
Three Levels Deep Max
If at all possible, your content should never be more than three clicks away from where the browser enters your site. Anymore than that, then your browsers probably won't find your content at all. Try to find ways of arranging your content so that it is close to navigate to.