Organization in Zero Gravity: Inconsistent Grouping and Labeling

In going through the Stars.com site, we noticed plenty of navigation features, both integrated and auxiliary. Integrated navigation tools exist on Web sites at the page level. An example of a Web-based integrated navigation tool is a link at the bottom of every page on the site that says "Return to Main Page." Auxiliary navigation tools are separate pages that provide navigation to all of the content, and often provide a bird-eye view of the site. Common examples of auxiliary navigation tools are tables of contents and indexes.

Clearly, much effort has been made to help users navigate Stars.com. Most pages have two integrated navigation tools,one on the right side and one on the bottom. The site also includes several auxiliary navigation tools (for example, the overview, the site content map, the Java-based topic index, and the search function), all of which are excellent.

But because the grouping and labeling of the various navigation tools is different, the overall impact leaves the user somewhat disoriented. Each navigation tool has a different organizational system, as the table below illustrates.

The grouping and labeling of each of these navigation tools are inconsistent in the following ways:

• Why does one navigation tool have seven top-level groupings, another have ten top-level groupings, and another have twelve top-level groupings? Since each of these navigation tools is global, this is confusing. If these were local navigation tools that refer only to a portion of the site, this might make sense, because the local navigation system for the Virtual Library should be different than the local navigation system for the Webmaster's Encyclopedia.

• The hierarchy of groupings is not consistent. For example, why does "HTML" sometimes stand alone as a separate top-level category, but other times fall within the "Authoring" category?

• Sometimes a similar label directs users to different locations. The label "Site Maps" on the right-side navigation bar links to a page titled "Web Maps," but the label "Map" on the bottom navigation bar links to a page titled "Site Content Map."

Recommendations:

• Keep the hierarchical groupings consistent throughout the site.

• Keep labels consistent throughout the site.

• Implement a single, coherent organization system. Each individual grouping and label, taken together, are part of a larger system. In order for each user to have the proper mental map of the organization of the site, it is important that each grouping and label are consistent.