The Navigation Bar: Guide Readers Through Your Site One Click At a Time

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

An online devotional for writers

A Word From The Word

The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. (Exodus 13:21, NLT)

A Word For Writers

A navigation bar guides readers through your website or blog. 

It is a structural element that appears on every page of the site, placed vertically across the top or bottom … or horizontally, as a sidebar … or both. 

The navigation bar lists clear, concise categories. Each category on the nav bar links you to a collection of pages about that topic. 

Let’s say you’re looking for a cake recipe with cranberries. You click on a recipe site’s navigation link titled “Cake Recipes” with a general idea that it will lead you to what you’re searching for – even if you don’t know specifically that it will be a luscious Double Layer Cranberry Ginger Upside-Down Cake or an Orange-Cranberry Bundt Cake with Date Nut Glaze.

A successful navigation bar, like the one on the recipe site, describes a broad content topic in concise language. It points visitors to their next step. 

God provided navigation to lead the Israelites in their next step to the Promised Land. He gave them a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide them.

The pillars, like links on a navigation bar, led the wanderers to their next step … and ultimately, after 40 years and 42 campsites, to the Promised Land.

But like visitors to your website or blog, they needed a guide to move from general instructions to specific steps.

Be concise as you write your navigation tags. Use clear language to point readers to their next step.

A Wise Word

Clear navigation guides readers through your website.

A Word To  Pray

Heavenly Father,

I confess I want to know the “whole picture” before taking the next step. Yet you are gracious to guide me one step at a time. Help me to write clearly. Show me how to guide readers through my content from general concepts to the specifics that they need.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

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