Here’s a fast, free GUI (Graphic User Interface) tip.
Your navigation is extremely important – it “orients” visitors to your site.
If you decide to use tabbed navigation, it works a lot like a physical folder would – the tab is attached the folder, and when you pull on the tab, the folder opens.
However, it’s very common in the web world due to lazyness or lack of programming skill to make the tab not “save state.” That means, if you click on a link, when the new page loads the tabbed navigation should change so that the tab that is “active” (or looks “connected”) to the page below should be the new page.
Even worse is if you click on different page tabs and the active tab that is connected to the main content stays the same – so you go to the media room, but the navigation bar looks like you’re still on the home page. It confuses visitors.
Not changing state is lazy programming – it can be done a variety of ways (even in flash) – and a little thing to look for to decipher the skill of your prospective developer.
