Comments on: Good pathway pages

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:22:03 +0000

Hi Stephen. There isn’t a problem repeating the links that appear on the left. You can use the links in the content area to expand a little with some explanatory text that follows each link. If you use the same link wording as you do on the left then users who notice both links will understand that they to both go to the same place.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:05:35 +0000

Hi David!

Thanks for your post, it’s one of the first which covers the problem.
Indeed, I’m facing the same problem as Victora has: What can I do with my pathway page if I have a Left Hand Navigation that would show exactly the same links as the pathway page would?

My first approach to this is to feature some of the links in the Natwest style from above and leave some less important ones in the LHN. However, this messes with giving the user a insight in the structure.

Plus, I suspect that once users use pathway pages as navigation, it should contain all of them. What do you think?

By: Victoria McCann

Victoria McCann — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:27:54 +0000

We’re trying to come up with an idea for pathway pages on our website. As a hospital website the text can get quite lengthy so we’re hoping to cut down each page into sections with pathway links. Only problem is we have a left hand navigation menu also so it may look repetitive…

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:58:02 +0000

Thanks Shay, checking it out right now.

By: Shay Howe - Chicago Freelance Web Designer

Shay Howe - Chicago Freelance Web Designer — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:56:27 +0000

This is a great article thank you! All too often do I see these pathway pages and rarely think twice about them. I guess that is a good thing though, a pathway page shouldn't get in the way of my experience and instead simply point me in the right direction. I wrote an article on category page design, which may be considered along the lines of a pathway page. Feel free to check it out if you wish. Thanks!

By: Jeremy Lim

Jeremy Lim — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:19:56 +0000

Been pouring over your blog this past half hour. Much respect, admiration, gratitude for your knowledge!

By: Andrew Maier

Andrew Maier — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:00:58 +0000

Thanks for the article David. I think that pathways pages can really function as a make-or-break feature of a significantly complicated site. . Many intranets and microsites depend upon a good pathway page.

Unfortunately, the people that need to understand good pathways pages are more than likely the same people who won’t understand it’s importance.

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:44:58 +0000

I’m not sure. I don’t really get your point.

By: Shadowfax

Shadowfax — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:38:01 +0000

But doesnt google stop following after the first hundred links on a page?

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:51:19 +0000

Hi Stu,

Regardless of the positioning of the arrows, the arrows alone don’t make the text obvious as a link. You need to make it look like a link with colour, positioning and often underlining and emboldening. Or make it look like a button.