The information you want to provide on your website will determine the structure of your navigation system and the navigation system will control the design. I think it’s an all too common problem for designers to just go off and put a design together before the information has been determined.
This problem is evident on websites when you see primary navigation items that just don’t seem to fit or are out of context. Dynamic menus in CMSs don’t help the cause either, especially when they allow the primary navigation to be extended. It all leads to confused users and reduced credibility.
Daniel – don’t make the mistake of asking those questions in the first person. You will find that it’s irrelevant what you think or what you want. The most important thing is what your customers think and what they want. The only question you should ask yourself is, ‘what do you want your website to achieve’?
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