Exploring the sites: Site navigation
What is the most wonderful thing about web? Sure it’s ability to interact with users. Serve to them information in easiest and fastest way and that is better for business and better for users. That is what navigation do.
So, what navigation is. Mostly people think that navigation is simple as links/menu to another site or host. In my opinion it is state of art when you need to explain all site content in a few words. Navigation is like meta information about site and browsing the site it keeps you on the right way. About scenarios and prototyping I will tell some other time.
I’m not a kind of the Microsoft fan boy, but honestly they had a nice work done. Al least with their web sites. When open microsoft.com there is a lot of information available. But actually there is no information at all. All index site is made like navigation containing a lot of a miscellaneous products who is linked to landing sites or main product sites. All these sites are designed in other style and do the various things (sells, support, business partnerships etc). It is a huge amount of information. But you never get lost.
Remembering old days when Macromedia was.. yeah, they had a wonderful site. But this navigation is still alive . No, not called Adobe, but its Windows Vista site. And it is not a stealing. Many of sites using this model. Same scenario and structure. Choose the product->Get the info-> Buy. It takes up to 3 minutes. When you want to do the same option with Mac OS you spent a lot more time. Ok, after than most of you think that Apple and OS X is so00 co00ol, but buy PC with Vista anyway :). For sure its a bit of marketing and rocket science, but mostly people priority is how to get something nor what. If they can get a stuff in a way that he like, he will think about other company. People spend money easily , but never want to waste more time they have to.
O.k , lets move forward. It is very to have simple navigation. Just like Panic Coda. Thats a way (IMHO) how all that kind of the product sites should look. Same cookies but other serving style. You even don’t need to move to another page to read all the information. This site don’t have most successful design or scenario, but it works. What we wait from code editor? Simplicity and speed. And this is what peoples find here.
I am not a big fan of multi level navigation. Nothing wrong with it but mostly it made information a little bit messy. Yap, sometimes it is needed (When you go from A -B, but among of these points you spent some money) but look at the DHL site. Thats awful. When I just wanted to find phone number to ask some questions about parcel (When I spent a couple of minutes and didn’t found online tracking 
) I never pretend that there is some more navigation block on the index site. And what if I came here from google? It is so 90’s to use -> [site map] to find something… but even this didn’t work. Search? Forget about! So, I called to local Info service and just asked to put through with DHL support line. I was mad even have no talked jet with them
And there is some good examples of multi lvl navy too . Click as much you want, you are still controlling the content. … but I cant find it right now. BTW in my opinion there are a big difference between multi level and one level expandable/drop down menus.
Sadly, but at the moment when I m writing this post Ogilvy Interactive site is down. I just looked at biggest web agencies portfolio located on the earth(actually I do it quite often). All work of them are amazing, but they keep on to following the rules. Nothing new, nothing special. Sure, it is because they work with mind not passion. Because they now that clients don’t sell creativity but product. Critical Mass, Agency net, Ogilvy interactive etc, they make the most boring websites but with most useful navigation. And users don’t care about designer inspiration deficit, because Mercedes Benz or Ford Mustang is artwork by itself. Web developers just need to feed user with links to let find out these facts. And keep navigating and content as simple as possible. Paradoxically, but that is not so simple to make simple site navigation. And don’t forget, it is need to be nice looking too.
I read a book some time ago called Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience. And you should to. That stuff changed how I see the web in whole. I am started to think about things like,-What if visitor of the site is using Internet first time? What if visitor came from google? What if 404. happens? No, there is no needed to make prototypes for all type of models. Enough with one simple navigation.
Thats all. I believe that I was able to tell this in fewer words and maybe more precisely too, but there is a lot of books available out there. Unfortunately, not so much blog entries and resources on the web.
Btw, highly recommends to listen boagworld.com podcasts. Many of them is design related so some has usability and navigation overview too.
Do WEB designer need to know Illustrator?
When I started my carrier I was a printed ad’s designer. I mostly worked on Fronthand and was able to do amazing things on this poor peace of software. After two years I figured out that I am not such a person who is able to done things by 100% and moved to web development and forget about vectors. Till today.
There was a time when web was a fool of smiling faces. After than was an absolute clean style domination. Even corporative sites was designed in a couple of pastel tones. There was a 3D time and flash (remember 2advanced). But now it’s vectors and cartoon time. So, knowing Illustrator is the necessity.
Look at ndesign-studio.com. Sure, its the next web design sight. And here is an illustration by author of this site.
And the answer for this post title is: Sure, you can do well if You are using Photoshop only, but If you or the clients need a web that isn’t yesterday you must think to use Illustrator. I’m not talking about technique, but time what is wasted to do tings in photoshop when there is Illustrator, who is easy to learn and have no brakes to stop your creativity.
I’m telling you, vector is the next big thing of web design, indeed!
Some more random examples: investingissimple.com www.katrinwegmann.de www.malenehald.dk www.cult-f.net
