This past week I went shopping for groceries. It was a big trip since my pantry was nearly empty, except for a few straggling items that ultimately made their way to the trash. When I got back—and my empty pantry had been replaced by a counter full of grocery bags—I started attempting to put things away in some kind of order. Similar items were placed next to each other, while random items were placed into any empty space I could find. But, about half way through this process, I noticed the shelves were starting to become a mess. The system I was using was not working and it was time for a different approach.
I paused for a moment to think through how I could do this and I realized that, for me, taking each item and trying to find the perfect place for it was a mistake. Everything didn’t need to be in the perfect spot, it just needed to be somewhere I could find it. I decided to think in terms of groups, instead. I have four shelves in my pantry. Dedicating one shelf to each meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and reserving the last shelf for spices, sauces and anything else multipurpose, I went to work. I finished quickly and noticed my pantry was much less messy than it had been after my first attempt.
As a result, it’s now easier to find food based on what I want to eat. In the morning, I go straight to the breakfast shelf. I do the same for lunch and dinner. Opening the pantry is no longer a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle in which I can’t even remember what I bought and as a result, my life has improved.
All of this illustrates a very important web design principle—one that is worth the somewhat lengthy anecdote. Simplifying and organizing are not the same thing. They work together to create an efficient system. In the case of websites, a menu system.
The most important decision to make when building a website is determining what information will be provided and what topics will be covered. A homepage can’t have everything. It takes a menu to direct traffic. Often, I find that clients try to fit too much into the top level of the site’s navigation. They have too much organization and not enough simplification.
When deciding how to lay out a website’s menu, I try to look at it from the user’s point of view. Coming to the site for the first time, users are generally looking for something specific. But, this does not mean you should split everything into extremely exact, precise groups. Those kinds of specific groups will leave your menu with good organization, but it won’t be simple.
The solution is to find a way to organize content that is also easy to understand. Start by breaking down what your demographic might want to do on your website. For example, categories like “shop,” “learn” and “contact” make it very easy for a user to know where to start. While these may seem vague, in reality they give users very simple paths to follow. If you make things easy for your website’s visitors from the beginning, they will continue to be visitors.
The bottom line? Simplify your organization. It works for website menus and for when you need to put away the groceries.