Following on from our website navigation review on retail websites, we continue the theme today with a navigation review on travel websites
To fully and comfortably engage with the Expedia website, users need to be familiar with typically busy travel websites. Due to the fact that there are so many propositions, the web real estate is packed with different features, calls to actions, advertisements and booking engines. Consistency of navigation and page architecture is nonexistent which suggests that each of the global navigation elements represent completely different divisions of the business, each with their own design and marketing teams. The global and utility navigation systems remain intact throughout the site however the rest of the navigation aids are haphazard in their appearance and positioning. Expedia should definitely consider having a live customer service chat facility exposed on every page on the site.
Lastminute.com uses a consistent 3 column approach across the site to ensure a level of uniformity which greatly assists navigation. Users quickly become accustomed to a sub category left hand navigation system which remains consistent regardless of the section being investigated. Moreover, the right hand side of the site is always dedicated to booking engines and enquiry facilities which means that the user almost knows what the page architecture will be like before arriving at a page. Successful navigation is all about the user not having to think too much and Lastminute.com manages this well. The site would definitely benefit from a breadcrumb trail and potentially some colour coordination between the different sections (if the page architecture remains consistent). The latter would greatly improve the user experience from a navigation and recall point of view.
The Visit Sweden website really is an exemplar website in a number of disciplines. From a navigation point of view, it is a delightful self service environment with clear signposts, easy to understand taxonomy and a very consistent architecture. Once again the three column approach is used, with non-critical advertising relegated to the bottom right hand side of the screen which is considered the lowest priority area for human engagement. The Google Maps are an integral feature on this website however users have the opportunity to show / close the maps at will, enabling easy navigation through the key content areas. The category cluster element in the maps is an extremely useful component however on a few occasions, the user drills down to a specific tourist item and is taken to a new site in the same browser thus losing the Visit Sweden site.