Now that you've laid out your website, you can see how important a good navigation system is. One of the chief complaints that visitors have is that they can't find the content they're looking for. The larger your site, the more important redundant navigation systems are -- more systems than you think you might need. Here are some of the basic systems and a few you might not have thought of:

• Left-side menu lists the various sections of your site, and perhaps some of the subsections, too.
• Tabs near the top of the webpage help the visitor quickly see the most important sections of your site. This facilitates browsing.
• Search the site or the product database. Larger sites need a search feature so visitors don't get lost.
• 10 most common gifts, etc.
• View today's specials or recent news releases.
• Bottom links provide hypertext links to all the sectional pages.
• Site map shows the structure and has links to every page (or sectional page).

If you're a do-it-yourselfer, consider using a free search engine such as Atomz Express Search (www.atomz.com/applications/search/trial.htm) or FreeFind (www.freefind.com) for your search function. Another approach is to use Google Free web search with site search (www.google.com/searchcode.html).
Some websites are "button happy." They have graphic buttons down the left side of the page and across the top. They may look nice, but there's a big cost in download time. There's a strong trend on high traffic sites toward text menus made with HTML characters, not GIF images. Look at a text menu you admire and study the HTML by viewing the source. Text is good; buttons are bad -- especially when overdone.

Finally, frames, a kind of HTML menu that lists page names in a window on the left side that scrolls up and down independently of the content window on the right. Website designers used to love them, until they discovered that they cripple a website's marketing potential because of the impact on search engine optimsation.. Insist that your site developer not use frames!
Instead of using frames, set up your navigation system with Server Side Includes (SSIs).
For more information on navigation systems for business, click here.

What's the design decision here? To make clear, redundant navigation a priority -- for your customers' sake.