Mas ao me deparar com o gato-maracajá da O’Reilly (o livro “Designing Web Navigation” de James Kalbach) percebi que obsoletos são os sites que subutilizam este importante elemento de interação.

Kalbach não promove nenhuma guerra entre caixas de busca e menus, mas argumenta que o emprego de ambos deve estar totalmente relacionado com os objetivos e estratégias do negócio. Ou seja, não existe menu certo ou errado, mas sim o mais adequado a determinado tipo de site. Parece óbvio, mas em quase 400 páginas são mostrados exemplos de sites que passaram muito longe disso.

O autor cita um teste de usabilidade realizado por Jared M. Spool, da User Interface Engineering, com 30 usuários de e-commerce. O intuito era investigar o que acontecia com o consumidor após encontrar o que procurava. Os resultados mostram que a busca não é necessariamente a melhor aliada para este tipo de site:

• dos usuários que iniciaram o processo de compra pela busca, apenas 20% continuaram a navegação atrás de algo mais
• dos usuários que iniciaram a compra pelos menus de categorias, 62% permaneceram “circulando” pela loja
• os usuários que começaram pelo menu também trafegaram 10 vezes mais a outras seções não previstas inicialmente

A busca da Apple

E se você ainda precisa de algumas razões para olhar com mais atenção para os menus, Kalbach dá várias delas:

• navegar e buscar são ações totalmente diferentes
• a navegação provê contexto e entendimento
• o menu é um importante aliado da marca: ele comunica quais são as prioridades e valores da empresa através de categorias, ordenação e até mesmo tons de cores
• o desenho de um menu de navegação é um esforço multidisciplinar, que deve considerar objetivos do negócio, as restrições tecnológicas e o conteúdo
• a navegação revela a temática do site e como ela é relevante para uma necessidade específica

Busca ou navegação? As duas, com certeza. Independente do meio escolhido, o resultado deve ser o mesmo: o encontro da informação.

Recently, I looked at a site, studied why their site was failing and why it needed a design rethink. I owe this to James Kalbach and Jakob Nielsen respectively. They both have different approaches to looking at the usability of sites but I found the checklist approach a nice and easy sense check of what the site does well and what it fails in doing. Its clear for the cheque writers to see at a glance what is wrong, and it gives them an indication of where their cash needs spending.

Here is a list to download, hope it works for you and its a combination of Nielsen and Kalbach's thinking on usability heuristics. If you are at the coal face of web design and development I urge you to run this check before making fundamental changes. It could save you time, and the user's, and the company money in the long run...

Have a look at this usability checklist example file

What the book does is show how this can be achieved, from the past, notably from the present and into the future. The illustrations are in colour (critically important for any design book) and give clarity to the text's important insights.

In his book, Kalbach manages to frame the complex design practice of building websites by analysing the building blocks of the process. He covers usability, research, information architecture and interaction design (amongst others) all with well researched quotes from the who's who of the UX world. For any student who wants to become a part of this industry this book is invaluable.

For those who have been involved in the industry for years its a valuable reference book for meetings where you are challenged by the ignorant yet persuasive. It is always great to have a book that has been so well-researched that it becomes undeniably powerful in its authority. Evidence based design is irrefutable and arguing against it only proves the frailties of the objector's opinion. Just to have the references cited here is enough for your armoury when dealing with that difficult question or situation.

Something that must be said is the accessibility of this book's reading style. There are many complex concepts that are written here, and many contributors from specialists in different fields, but the message conveyed is always easily understood. By having so many individuals participating you feel that the author has collaborated with some brilliant minds and in doing so has produced a brilliant book with great clarity - and that's so important here.

Each chapter closes with questions that make you think and exercises that will challenge and push you. It is a fun and interesting way to reassert the summary that Kalbach makes in each chapter. It is not a coding book, but then it shouldn't be. The technology is not the focus here, the user is and that is what is key to the book.

It may not set you alight if you are looking for inspiration, but I feel that is not the purpose of this book. If anything, it is a carefully considered manual of the processes and applications of specialisms that need to be involved in building successful websites. Some have argued there isn't enough personality from the author in the book. However, one assumes this is a conscious decision as it would only detract from the importance and objectivity of the statements made.

To undermine the importance of navigation is like undermining the importance of findability, and the point of the Internet itself. Information discovery is made possible  through navigable elements, this discovery is aided if they are intuitively designed and feel right to the user. In the age of agile, it is more important than ever that we as a group of professionals do not lose sight of where we have come from as we propel ourselves beyond the Web 2.0 world.

To have books like this define our discipline's design history, and it gives it more credence. By doing that we set a positive course towards the future where more people gain an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that occur in designing our future online interactions.

Verdict: Its a classic and truly indispensable in the user experience library. Well researched, well executed and as comprehensive as you can imagine. A holistic view on the art and science of web design.

Read more reviews on this book here...