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Navigation systems in the templates follow specific conventions. Please observe the following guidelines when establishing the navigation in your site. Doing so will help to create a learnable navigation system across Case's family of websites. Learnable navigation systems foster a positive user experience because users aren't forced to learn a different navigation system every time they land on a new Case site. Once the system is learned, users can count on it to react consistently, making navigation within and between Case sites easier. As a result, users can spend more time considering published content.
Active State Color
Although navigation elements in the templates vary slightly in appearance depending upon placement and use, the active state or "hot" color for all navigation (i.e., clickable) items is Case Blue. When users roll their mouse pointer over a clickable item, that item highlights in Case blue and, in many cases, an underline appears as well. Please do not alter or deactivate this important convention.
Navigation Levels
The basic templates allow for three visible navigation levels. The left navigation column houses primary and sub navigation. A third level navigation set appears within the main content area when necessary. Please note that links within this tertiary navigation set are not intended to be within-page links but rather links to individual (yet related) pages.
Section Navigation in the Advanced Templates
The advanced template sets provide an additional navigation system, named "section navigation" for the purposes of discussion. The section navigation appears as a horizontal bar across the bottom of the masthead. Section navigation allows larger sites to expand both in breadth and depth. If using the horizontal section navigation bar, the left navigation column will change from section to section, allowing for deeper levels of pages. When using this system, title the left navigation column appropriately to indicate to users which section they are currently viewing.
Additional Linking Guidelines
- Text links in the main content area are underlined and turn blue on rollover. On sites across the World Wide Web, underlined text almost always indicates a link. Because users expect this, it is good practice to avoid using underlines as text decoration or for emphasis.
- External links: When including a link to a site external to yours, use the double >> to indicate to users that they will be leaving the current site for a new one. Consider adding some explanatory text with the link to set accurate expectations for users.
- PDFs: A good practice online is to label PDFs and other files so users are aware before they click these items.
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