Wayfinding on the Web

Presented at Midwest UX 2014 with Tara Bazler.
http://2014.midwestuxconference.com/speakers/chris-basham.html

Inspired by adventuring in the great outdoors, we will explore principles, practices, and patterns that can guide those designing a web navigation experience. How do we design for users wanting to browse content or just wanting to efficiently accomplish a given task? How does context, such as resource constraints, prior knowledge, knowledge acquisition, and personal experience affect how a user traverses an interface? How can navigational experiences adapt for context?

Recording: https://vimeo.com/110190912

Transcript

1. Wayfinding  on  the  Web:  
   Design  Principles  from  
   Exploring  the  Great  Outdoors  
   Tara  Bazler  ·∙  Chris  Basham
   

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2. WAYFINDING  
   BEHAVIORS
   

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3. Locate  
   Get  to  the  end.  
   

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4. “NavigaOng  around  a  web  site  or  
   applicaOon  is  like  commuOng.  You  
   have  to  do  it  to  get  where  you  need  
   to  go,  but  it's  dull,  it’s  someOmes  
   infuriaOng,  and  the  Ome  and  energy  
   you  spend  on  it  just  seems  wasted.”
   —  Jennifer  Tidwell,  Designing  Interfaces
   

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5. Explore  
   Enjoy  the  journey.  
   

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6. Meander  
   Aimless  wandering.  
   

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7. NAVIGATING  THE  
   PHYSICAL  WORLD
   

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8. Signposts
   

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9. Maps
   

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10. Trails
    

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11. Landmarks
    

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12. Stars
    

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13. NAVIGATING  THE  
    DIGITAL  WORLD
    

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14. Links  
    Magical  portals.  
    

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15. Links  
    Magical  portals.  Stargates.  
    

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16. Search  
    The  omniscient  librarian.  
    

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17. Sitemaps  
    The  mall  directory.  
    

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18. Breadcrumbs  
    The  marked  trail.  
    

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19. Terminology  
    Page  Btles,  headings,  logos.  
    

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20. WAYFINDING  
    QUESTIONS
    

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21. Where  am  I?  
    3   K E Y   Q U E S T I O N S
    

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22. Where  am  I?  
    Where  can  I  go?  
    3   K E Y   Q U E S T I O N S
    

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23. Where  am  I?  
    Where  can  I  go?  
    How  do  I  return?
    3   K E Y   Q U E S T I O N S
    

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24. PRINCIPLES
    

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25. Understand  users’  goals  &  
    behaviors.
    

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26. Provide  clear  paths  for  users  
    to  aaain  their  goals.
    

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27. Choose  wording  wisely.
    

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28. Simplify  the  process.
    

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29. Create  a  logical  structure  
    through  content  organizaOon,  
    landmarks,  &  convenOons.
    

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30. “We  must  move  beyond  the  page  
    metaphor,  think  of  informaOon  as  
    an  environment,  consider  how  
    people  interact  with  that  
    environment,  and  apply  design  
    principles  that  opOmize  
    wayfinding.”
    —  Tyler  Tate,  InformaBon  Wayfinding
    

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31. Tara  Bazler         @taranoba  
    Chris  Basham     @chrisbasham  
    I N D I A N A   U N I V E R S I T Y   ·∙   U I T S 

    

    M I DW E S T   U X 

    O C TO B E R   2 0 1 4
    

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