But without organized, coherent, and usable navigation, even a site with
the most amazing content will fail.
During this chapter, we??™ll work through how to create various types of navigation. Instead
of relying on large numbers of graphics and clunky JavaScript, we??™ll create rollovers that
are composed of nothing more than simple HTML lists and a little CSS. And rather than
using pop-up windows to display large graphics when a thumbnail image is clicked, we??™ll
cover how to do everything on a single page.
Navigation types
There are essentially three types of navigation online:
Inline navigation: General links within web page content areas
Site navigation: The primary navigation area of a website, commonly referred to as
a navigation bar
Search-based navigation: A search box that enables you to search a site via terms
you input yourself
Although I??™ve separated navigation into these three distinct categories, lines blur, and not
every site includes all the different types of navigation. Also, various designers call each
navigation type something different, and there??™s no official name in each case, so in the
following sections, I??™ll expand a little on each type.
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Inline navigation
Inline navigation used to be the primary way of navigating the Web, which, many moons
ago, largely consisted of technical documentation. Oddly, inline navigation??”links within a
web page??™s body copy??”is less popular than it once was.
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