The ISMS Award Scheme  - tips on site navigation Visitors to the site must always know where they are in the site and they should not get lost in a maze of pages using a variety of link types. There should always be clear links to other pages in the site. Navigation should be intuitive and user friendly. The site should have an easily accessible navigation and menu system. Visitors should be able to reach any part of the site within 3 clicks of their mouse - some award reviewers suggest as little as 2 clicks of the mouse. The site navigation system should begin from one central source, perhaps on the home or index page. Visitors should then be able to navigate around the site using buttons embedded in the site pages rather than having to resort to the browser's Back and Forward buttons. A site map is a good way to make all pages available at once. Some award schemes, including the ISMS, will award additional points for clear, novel and imaginative site maps. The site should not disable a visitor's ability to use the right mouse button. This may help to protect illegal copying of site images and text but it can also reduce navigation options or vital functions that some visitors may have associated with their right mouse button. Not everyone uses the right mouse button for just cutting, copying and pasting. All site links should work first time and every time. Links to external sources should open in a new window to ensure that visitors don't leave the site and forget to return. Regularly check the site for broken links to external sources because, occasionally, external sites are intentionally or accidentally discontinued, change web address or radically change their site content and become less family friendly or less in tune with the host site's aims. The host site cannot be responsible for the availability and content of external sites but it should take action to ensure it has valid and appropriate links. Links to other pages within the site should open in the same window unless they lead to pop-up windows (such as this) that provide additional information or contain more detail, such as larger images, of the linked item. We've noted this in the layout and design section but site pages that need to be scrolled down and down and down should have a 'back to the top' link every so often. Many award reviewers will deduct points for more than two vertical scrolls without this facility and many site visitors will not stay long enough to reach the bottom of page after page of this type of layout.

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