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#1 2006-09-20 14:18:15
- deronsizemore
- Member
- From: Kentucky
- Registered: 2005-11-02
- Posts: 324
Having a dilemma with navigation structure of my site
Okay, the site I’m developing is <a href=“www.kentuckygolfing.com”>www.kentuckygolfing.com</a>. Just a mockup right now, most links to not work or anything and very much still under development.
The thing I’m having a dilemma on is the navigation structure of the site.
1. The first thing I’ve thought about is just having the homepage serve as a blog for the most part where I or whoever can write articles and then having every other page of the site basically static pages that wouldn’t be updated a whole lot. With this option, each blog entry will have a ‘category’ tied to it where when clicked you’ll simply be taken to a page with all articles pertaining to that category. (example: “filed in:” under the article excerpt)
The problem I’ve got with this option is this: The navigation pages, Equipment Corner, Instruction, Golf Fitness, etc… are sections. So, if I write a blog entry that shows up on the homepage and has a category (filed in:) of “instruction” and when clicked it takes you to all articles with that same “instruction” category and then over on the right side I’ve got an “instruction” link in the Navigation Menu which takes you to a static page on golf instruction, I think visitors would be confused, because one instruction link takes them to a bunch of articles and another takes them to the instruction static page. I myself know the difference and how the site is set up but for the average visitor, I think they wouldn’t know what’s going on as most average users don’t know what a blog even is and wont realize that the homepage is just a collection of articles with different categories and that every other page on the site is static type information.
2. The other option I’m thinking about is having some static pages, and some blog pages. For instance, the homepage will basically be a catch all for all articles. The ‘instruction’ section of the site (in the nav menu), instead of being static content, it will be blog entries pertaining to golf instruction and would just have the section set to “show on homepage” where new ones will be displayed on the homepage, with a “filed in:” set to instruction (I would have to change filed in to display sections instead of categories) so when clicked it takes to you the instruction section/page (same page as instruction link under Navigation) with all articles written on golf instruction. Same would go for “equipment”, “fitness”, and other links under Navigation. Those links under navigation will only take you that section with blog articles only corresponding to that section. So in this case, if I write a golf tip article in the instruction section, it will then show up on the homepage as a new article with a “filed in:” section of “instruction” so that when clicked it actually takes you to the same instruction page as clicking on the “instruction” link in the navigation list would, rather then two different ones.
If anyone can help me sort this out, that’s be great or if you have any other ideas please let me know! I just don’t want to start working on a lot of the pages in the site, to find out in two months that it was bad idea and should have went another route. I’m trying to eliviate any problems down the road with stuff like this.
Thanks everyone
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Re: Having a dilemma with navigation structure of my site
I’m no golfer (can’t even get through the windmill in miniature golf!), but I had a similar issue for categorizing a recent site. What really helped was taking out a notebook, and listing the base requirements (sections), site features, etc, then converting that to TXP code. Once I did that it was a lot faster and simpler to develop, now that I had a road map.
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#3 2006-09-26 14:10:02
- deronsizemore
- Member
- From: Kentucky
- Registered: 2005-11-02
- Posts: 324
Re: Having a dilemma with navigation structure of my site
Thanks! I’ll give that a try. Probably a good idea. I make a road map on paper for the design and layout of my sites usually before I start coding, so why not do the same for the navigation structure. Makes sense.
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