Opinion: Left Vertical Site Navigation

[Carl]

I wondered how folks feel about the left navigation, the blue vertical link section to all major parts of the guide. I've recently extended it, and site statistics seem to show a positive response. Just looking for feedback about what some of you would like; bare minimum, only major content sections, or links to extra, popular areas. So far, it seems the more I put, the better the response. I guess it does help to get that left advertisement out of your face as soon as you load the page. Instead, you're greeted to a broad listing of alphabetical pages and the ad is further down. I want most pages to be only 2 clicks away, and I feel I've accomplished that.

I'd also like to report that I have disabled weight loss ads for now. They are big for filling our ad space but I find a lot of them tasteless. I won't re-enable them unless revenues really suffer.

Someone once asked me for a top link, and I put that back in on the bottom of every page to help people jump to the top and look at the guide navigation to find where they'd like to move on to.

I appreciate your thoughts.

[Pam]

I like the left navigation buttons.  They look clean and they're easy to use.  I also like the balance of blue and green with the bars and buttons.  Not too much of either color.  I think the guide looks its best ever! 

[Carl]

But you think the layout is good for quickly finding info, despite the number of links? I'm under assumption people can skim quickly enough the way they're alphabetized. I think I am also going to incorporate search onto the home page so people can get latest updates while at the same time having the search there, making it a better bookmark.

I want to incorporate Sims 3 in the keywords for some of those links for optimization of link name purposes, but I'll try to keep it from looking too spammy.

This is mainly coming to mind because I have 2 articles that will soon cross my desk that have a good reason to be there, as they're such needed topics and stuffing them into articles seems like poor placement. So this can get a bit bigger.

[Pam]

But you think the layout is good for quickly finding info, despite the number of links? I'm under assumption people can skim quickly enough the way they're alphabetized.

Yes, I think it's good.  The left navigation buttons work nicely for organizing the Guide, in my opinion.  They are self-explanatory and easy to use being alphabetical.

[Twinmum]

I don't think there are too many links there on the left. I like the way it is and find it easy to navigate to where I want to go. I guess you could always go one step further and change it so that when you roll over a button, you get a sub menu (is that a java script?) Not sure though how involved that sort of thing is, I do know it's something I've never learnt in page creation lol. But seriously, so far everything is, as you said, no more than 2 clicks away from the front page, so most people should have no trouble finding what they are after.

I think the alphabetical listing works best, as different people may have different ideas as to what is more important and should be at the top of the list.. being in alphabetical order, you know where in the list you should be looking.

Norma

[NalaOwl22]

I think I can honestly say that this is one of the most easy-to-naviagate sites I have ever come across. The links on the left don't seem too much, yet I can always get exactly where I need to very quickly and efficiently. Having it on the left as opposed to the top as many sites do makes it seem a lot cleaner and less cluttered.
Thanks for all of the hard work you and the team have put into this.
Nala

[ClumsyMum]

I think I can honestly say that this is one of the most easy-to-naviagate sites I have ever come accross. The links on the left don't seem too much, yet I can always get exactly where I need to very quickly and efficiently. Having it on the left as opposed to the top as many sites do makes it seem a lot cleaner and less cluttered.

I completely agree. I've only been coming here for about 2 weeks, practically everyday, and not once have I got lost or had trouble trying to find what I'm looking for. The whole site works very well, and the links within the articles are really useful. Great job!

[Saltypaws]

Again Carl, it is great.  You have done a great job with this and a big yay for all others that have had input.  I wish alot more sites on the internet were as easy to navigate as this one is.  You have my vote.

[Metropolis Man]

Carl, that was a great idea to extend the left nav bar with more key Guide sites and include it on major Guide pages. So easy now to get around the Guide.

[Carl]

Thanks for sharing your opinions folks. I'm glad it's good to you all. I've also put the top 8 or so pages in a section to the top right. I tried to make them links that don't appear in the navigation, and I can update this from time to time when popularity shifts. They're quite popular enough to justify this. I feel it pushes the ad a little out of your face and gives something relevant to see in the in that area.

[Swede1992]

I think that the way you've put up the main page can give you the ability to put a lot of these links without getting it to feel too cluttered. It's great as it is now; you can even add more if you want to IMO!

[adavid]

I think the navigation is good, is the most common and proven by millions of users.
What I really want is to use this space to give thanks to Carl for the work you do with this guide with the only purpose of making us the game much easier and without FOR FREE!.
Many many THANKS for all your dedication. You are really a great guy. 

[Carl]

Thanks a lot adavid, wouldn't be so easy without all the people here helping me out with it nowadays. It's grown to be bigger than one guy can really handle


I think I've got quite enough feedback, if anyone didn't like something they had time to speak up. I may make some of the menus collapsible, one day. It depends if the navigation bar starts to get way too long.