Rules of Thumb
Users don't mind navigation menus with up to seven or eight choices.
| Depth | Links Per Page | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|   | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 | 7 | 13 | 21 | 31 |
| 3 | 15 | 40 | 85 | 156 |
| 4 | 31 | 121 | 341 | 781 |
| 5 | 63 | 364 | 1365 | 3806 |
| 6 | 127 | 1090 | ||
| 7 | 255 | |||
| 8 | 511 | |||
| 9 | 1024 | |||
| # Pages | # Links |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 20 |
| 6 | 30 |
| 7 | 42 |
| 8 | 56 |
| 9 | 72 |
Here are some of his facts of life.
We know we don't need to read everything.
We are good at it.
Satisfice means to choose the first reasonable option, according to Gary
Klein in
Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions (MIT Press, 1998).
There is not much penalty for guessing wrong.
Weighing options may not improve our efficiency.
Guessing is more fun.
People choose what takes less time in the short run, not in the long run.
Web designers should avoid features that make the user think.
Which or these button titles requires more thought?
See the site www.about.com
A You are here
indicator shows the path taken down the page hierarchy.
See the site www.gap.com
If you click on a navigation link, it should take you to a page with that
title.
If I click on the link
Lug Nuts , I want to go to
a page with title Lug Nuts,
not Nuts, Spare Parts, or Error 404 (Page not found).
Name of Company
Corporate Logo
Tag Line
Welcome Blurb
Home Page Title
Ford Motor Company: www.ford.com
IBM: www.ibm.com
British Petroleum Company: www.bp.com
Pepsi: www.pepsi.com
Cola Cola: www.cocacola.com
New York Times: www.nytimes.com