The goals of web designLesson 1, Planning Your Website 17Let’s consider two types of site structures that will eventually translate to the navigation
menus: wide and deep. First you have a wide navigation structure in which the main pages
are listed horizontally:
A wide site navigation has primary links always accessible.
In a wide navigation system, the main pages are all visible together and for small sites, this is
often a logical choice. With the navigation bar on every page the user can easily jump to any
of the main pages with a single click. The disadvantage of a wide navigation structure is that
there may be limits to how much information can easily be displayed if there are too many
categories. You are limited by the width of the screen and must also remember that if you
present too many options, the site may overwhelm or confuse the user.
An alternative method for organizing content is deep navigation, which simplifi es the main
navigation and then groups related pages into categories.
A deep site navigation has fewer primary links and more secondary
and tertiary links.