Web Design: Navigation - Models and Structures

There are several ways to set up your website navigation, depending on the complexity of your site. In the following paragraphs, I’m looking at the different models you might want to think about when developing a site.

The Parent / Child Model
This is a hierarchical model where a group of information is broken into various pages. One page is considered to be the most important and the most obvious introduction to the others. This page becomes the parent. The other pages are classed as children. The navigation flow is represented below.



So in this simple navigation system, users can browse from the parent to each of the three children and back. In this particular example, it is not possible to browse from one child to another without first accessing the parent page. This simplifies the navigational choices but increases the number of steps necessary to reach your destination. This model can of course take more complex forms, for example, each child can in turn become a parent, or even a grandparent, to another file.

The Linear Model
This model is based on traditional narrative structure, the idea being that the user starts at a certain place and follows the steps through until a conclusion is reached, for example you start reading a book at chapter one and move through the book chapter by chapter until you reach the last page.



It can be limiting on the Web and generally is only used in a context which calls for the user to carry out actions sequentially. For example, this may include completing a set of steps in a tutorial or taking a guided tour of an online art museum.

Free Navigation - Parent / Child Model

The advantage of using this model is the provision of links to virtually everywhere from everywhere else. The diagram below shows a grandparent / parent / child model with free navigation from one level back to the one above.



This works well on smaller websites with just a few pages, but it may not be the ideal solution on larger sites, as the information will be difficult to present without confusing the user.

The "Mystery" Model
Used mainly in experimental or artistic sites. Instead of providing the user with a clear path to roam around the site, there may be obscure links leading to pages whose content is not revealed before accessing them, and even then, exploration is often needed to uncover the contents. The idea is to encourage the user to play with the site. This is NOT a good model to use if you're making a site for a conservative business.