Web applications: Conclusion

When a particular company owns a platform, they can set standards and publish guidelines for application development. The freedom and diversity inherent in the Web, however, break that model. The consequence is a wide variety of guidelines – some good and some bad. How do we decide which guidelines to follow in designing applications? By remembering the user's needs.

You can help users navigate through their applications by applying traditional design guidelines with the particular requirements of the Web in mind:

Arrange information carefully so that users always know where they are in the application.

Do not tempt users to interrupt their work by following links to other pages either in the application or on another site.

Hide the split between the browser and the application by including navigational controls in the application.

Preserve the context of an interaction so users to not need to recreate it in the middle of their work.

Minimize network delays through clear navigation and reduced download time.

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Navigation in Web applications

1. Introduction
2. Basic navigation
3. Losing users and losing work
4. Separating the browser and the application
5. Lack of context
6. Delays caused by network connections
7. Conclusion

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