One of the great ironies of Web site design is that, despite our efforts to create an experience that keeps users on our pages, we constantly invite them to move away. This is largely because information architecture (how we organize sites) is linear in nature (like reading books). The result: users have to leave pages in order to view related content. Unfortunately users are often forced to back up and start over to navigate through our content.

In fact, according to Jakob Nielsen, the “back button” on Web browsers is the second most used navigation feature.

This navigation problem is painfully apparent in sites tied to a company’s financial success, like e-commerce sites.  I’ve experienced this first-hand:  prior to coming to D2 I spent most of nine years developing and managing e-commerce businesses.  I know that most site managers struggle to get visitors to their sites.  Why is it then that we make them jump through hoops to buy products from us? (more…)