Therein lies my problem…
I feel I have 15-20 legitimate Sections, and they really stand on their own and it wouldn’t make sense collapsing most of them into other Sections.
When I started earlier this week, I had a list of maybe 40-50.
My Navigation Bar now has 13 Sections in it, and while it looks pretty good, there are 4-5 more Sections that leaving out makes me feel like I’m cheating my users?! :-/
The need to have numerous Sections isn’t a lack of organization, it is that my topic is broad AND that I am doing a good job and trying to provide comprehensive coverage of the topic at hand.
Last night I was looking at the NY Times and LA Times and the Washington Post, and I feel I am on a similar level as they are with Content and numerous Sections.
Each handles things somewhat differently, but the one thing they all have in common is that they probably have over 100 Sections that can easily stand on their own…
My biggest fear is not being to “advertise” certain Sections, and then never getting exposure that they need. For example, “Outsourcing” or “E-commerce” or “Women In Business” might not be as obvious and dominant as Section like “Finance” or “Legal”, however they apply to important populations of visitors that I want to highlight.
If I bury these Sections under a catchall section like “Other”, then someone might see them, but a lot of people never will get there before leaving. (Maybe the only reason a visitor would stay at my website is not that it is about “Small Business”, but because it is about “Small Business” AND focuses on “Women in Business”…)
Because my website is not specifically about “Women”, if forced to choose between “Finance” and “Women” because of a lack of real-estate, then “Finance” would win. However, in an ideal world, my main navigation would have both Section so that I could “hook” both types of visitors!!
Make sense?
Of course, if and when my website ends up taking off, this may become less of an issue because people know my site, and they know where to find things. For example, there are LOTS of things buried at SitePoint, but because I love the website and I know the website, I don’t mind navigating to areas of interest, that a new user might not.
I have been pouring over my Content and Sections and trying to condense things. And while I have successfully done that is some areas, I still feel like I have 12 feet of rope when I need 16 feet… :wall:
Sincerely,
Debbie