People often ask me whether they should make sure all of their content is available within 3 clicks (”3 clicks from where” is usually my first question). I can’t remember where this ‘rule’ started (Nielsen?), but common-sense would tell you that it is sensible only on smallish sites.

What if those 3 clicks are into the unknown? A user can become lost in 3 clicks as easily as 5, 7 or more.

What is far more important is to get users following the right path. When they know that they are going in the right direction, they stop counting clicks and start getting engaged with the content.

So how do you get users following the right path? Lots of ways, including:
- understanding your users and why they are using your site
- designing your site so the main tasks are completed easily
- understanding the language of your users and use it for labelling
- helping users understand the context of the information
- if useful, put summary information first, then link deeper to more detail

(these are just my favourites - if I were to write all ways to get users to the right path, I’d be here for days)

Here’s the article that triggered this today. It is a bit thin, but a good reminder:
http://www.thebestpractice.com/INTRACK/in_intrack.html
(found via Croc o’lyle)

This entry was posted on Monday, July 22nd, 2002 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Information architecture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.