Rules to Better Websites - Navigation

• Do you underline links and show a clear hover effect?
• On-page - Do you use descriptive links?
• Do you distinguish visited links?
• Do you have an active state for the current menu item?
• Do you use Mega-menu navigation to improve usability?
• Do you use the hamburger menu icon wisely?
• Do you add breadcrumb to every webpage?
• Do you simplify breadcrumbs?
• Do your wizards include a 'Wizard Breadcrumb'?
• Do you display information consistently between linked pages?
• Do you make sure your page name is consistent in three places?
• Do you make your links intuitive?
• Do you use icons on files' links to not to surprise users?
• Do you visually indicate when a link is external?
• Do you make external links open on a new tab?
• Do you avoid absolute internal links?
• Do you put all essential links in your website on your navigation bar?
• Do you make your pages easy to access?
• Do you avoid redundant linking (aka have a single link to a single location)?
• Do you avoid linking a page to itself?
• Do you know how to use anchor links?
• Do you choose effective anchor names?
• Do you use the right anchor names?
• Do you add hyperlinks to phone numbers?
• Do you add 'call-able' links to your website?
• Do you save clicking through?
• Do you use an icon so a password prompt should never be a surprise?
• Do you have a section for related links?
• Do you avoid email harvesting or spamming by using images?
• Do you avoid linking users to the sign in page directly?
• Do you indicate menu items that have a sub menu?
• Login Security - Do you know the appropriate error message for an invalid username or password entry?
• Do you avoid letting the screen go white?
• Do you give an option to widen a search?
• Calendar - Does your website make it easy for your users to add an event to their calendar?
• Do you know to not include UNC paths in URLs?
• Do you avoid including full stop or slash at the end of URLs?
• Do you remember to change the default title of a newly created page?