Website Navigation Techniques: Text or Icons?

A major aspect of web design is actually quite detached from visual design. Information design, how content is structured, categorized, identified and related, is an important consideration for any website's design. These issues need to be thought through carefully for the visual design to be able to do its job effectively. There are far too many issues dealing with information design to address completely here. (We picked up this topic again in Web Deign Tips part 2.)

Following are a few basic information design concepts to keep in mind to help you with the navigation of your design. Try and distinguish between navigation links that deal with site tools (such as home, contact, search, or site map) and those relating to content. Site tools are common to almost every web site and can often be represented by icons without losing any clarity. By separating and distinguishing these navigation elements you will have more "slots" for content related navigation (products, history, job opportunities, etc). We recommend keeping your main navigation elements to seven or less. In general icons do not work well for these areas. If you do create section icons be sure to use words to describe them as well.