The global navigation is persistent across the website. Because the same buttons appear
on all pages, visitors can leap from section to section without having to backtrack through
previously visited pages. This perpetual menu usually exists in the main header, separated
by both space and design, but it can also exist peacefully in the sidebar if a horizontal layout
does not provide enough real estate.
A secondary navigation can also appear in the sidebar or in the header as long as it is visually
clear that it is subsidiary to the main navigation (while still being relevant to the visitor??™s
experience). Secondary links are local, meaning that they only appear in the section
where they are relevant, but their design and placement should be consistent between
sections. The visual dynamic between the primary, secondary, and lower navigation systems
is a considerable design challenge. The hierarchy of links must be explicitly laid out
in the visual design. Consider Figure 4-5, in which a dominant global menu spans the
header, and each link opens a drop-down menu. When a visitor navigates to a subsection,
they are presented with a local navigation on the left??”clearly subsidiary to the top
menu??”and a set of contextual links within the main content area.
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