DES 2.1 Provide effective navigation based on recognised conventions

Be consistent with navigation across each page of the site.
Provide a link back to the homepage from every page:
- e.g. logo at top left of page, an explicit 'home' link.
Use clear navigation bars:
- Make them distinct and distinguishable from the content;
- Choose the labels for the navigation bar items very carefully - make them meaningful and understandable. Avoid ambiguous terms.
Provide feedback on navigation bars:
- Highlight the current page on navigation bars where possible;
- Disable the link to the current page:
  - this provides extra non-visual feedback,
  - this avoids potential misunderstanding and reloading of the same page.
Be careful with dropdown menus:
- Avoid specifying multi-levelled cascades:
  - these can be difficult to use, especially where fine control is required;
- If using dropdown menus then test them once they are coded:
  - test with a range of users to ensure ease of use,
  - ensure the menus can be used with a keyboard,
  - ensure the navigation the menu provides is available without the need for scripting, e.g:
    - Make the top menu item a link to an overview page that presents the full set of links present in the cascading menu.
Make all in-page links easily recognisable:
- Style links so that they are clearly distinguishable from other non-link text:
  - Blue underlined is the standard but other styling is fine as long as it is obvious that a link is a link;
- Limit the number of styles you use (ideally to just 1) and use consistently.
Place in-page links where they are needed for action and are supported by the surrounding context:
- Do not force a user to hunt for a link elsewhere if it makes sense to place it right where it is needed.
Be careful not to overdo links in body text:
- Rather than pepper a passage with many links, consider a separate section at the end that lists related links.