Plan pages around visitor tasks
Choose useful pages, clear menu labels and sensible next steps. Compare complete page maps for a fictional repair workshop and a small stationery shop.
Make a page map by listing the decisions visitors need to make, then giving each decision a sensible home. A page deserves its own address when it serves a distinct task and you have enough useful information to fulfil it.
The aim is a site someone can navigate without learning your internal organisation. A small site may need only a few pages; a shop with meaningful product differences may need many. The number follows the work the pages do.
Start with questions, not menu labels
Write questions in the visitor's terms before deciding the navigation:
| Visitor question | Information needed | Likely page role |
|---|---|---|
| “Do you do the repair I need?” | Accepted items, scope and exclusions | Service page |
| “What happens before you quote?” | Assessment steps and what to prepare | Process page |
| “Which notebook size fits my use?” | Dimensions and product differences | Collection or comparison page |
| “Does this notebook have ruled pages?” | Ruling and specifications for that exact product | Product page |
| “How do I arrange the next step?” | A real contact or purchasing route | Contact page or transaction flow |
The GOV.UK user-needs guidance distinguishes a person's problem from a preselected solution. Apply that distinction here: “decide whether my item is suitable” is more useful than “use our new gallery”.
Decide when to combine or separate pages
Keep information together when the same visitor needs it to make the same decision. A repair page can explain both scope and exclusions without splitting them into separate destinations.
Create a separate page when the task changes, the information becomes substantial or the reader needs to return to it independently. A detailed assessment guide can support several repair pages. A product's care instructions might remain on its product page if they are brief, or use a dedicated guide if multiple products share a detailed process.
Do not split “chair repair”, “repairing chairs” and “wooden chair repairs” into near-identical pages solely because the phrases differ. Likewise, two product colours do not always need two editorial articles. Decide from the real information and purchasing workflow.
Example one: a repair workshop
Fictional example: Alder & Grain accepts wooden dining-chair joint repairs and minor wooden-table repairs. Customers bring items to the workshop by arrangement. There is no online shop or booking calendar.
| Example address | Page job | Information to include | Natural next step |
|---|---|---|---|
/ |
Help a visitor recognise the workshop and choose a route | Offer, suitable items and a short assessment explanation | Furniture repairs or assessment guide |
/furniture-repairs/ |
Decide whether the work fits the workshop's scope | Chair joints, table repairs, exclusions and assessment limits | How assessment works |
/how-assessment-works/ |
Prepare for an assessment | Photo guidance, inspection, quote approval and collection sequence | Contact and preparation checklist |
/workshop/ |
Understand who will handle the work | Verified background, genuine workshop images and visiting arrangements | Assessment guide |
/contact/ |
Find the actual communication route and required information | Confirmed email or telephone details, item description and photograph checklist | Send an enquiry outside the website |
/privacy/ |
Understand the site's information handling | Actual website and contact practices | Return to the relevant task |
These are proposed addresses inside a fictional project, not live routes on Content Charlie. The primary menu would use Furniture repairs, How assessment works, The workshop and Contact. The logo links to the homepage. Policy information belongs in the footer where it remains available without crowding the main choices.
There is no separate page for every chair style because the example business has not supplied different repair scope or evidence for each one.
Example two: a small stationery shop
Fictional example: a retailer sells the Fieldnote A5 ruled notebook alongside other stationery. This is a planning example, not a shop operated by Content Charlie.
| Example address | Page job | Boundary to preserve |
|---|---|---|
/ |
Introduce the range and direct shoppers to categories | Avoid making the homepage the only place with product information |
/notebooks/ |
Compare the available notebook types | Show useful differences such as size and ruling |
/notebooks/fieldnote-a5/ |
Assess the specific notebook | Include its own dimensions, variants and supplied facts |
/delivery-and-returns/ |
Check current fulfilment arrangements | Use actual operating policies, not assumptions copied from another retailer |
/about/ |
Explain the current retailer | Support identity claims with real information |
/contact/ |
Resolve a product or order question | Give a verified contact route |
| Basket and checkout | Complete an order | Plan these as tested functions, not merely content pages |
A shopper looking at the notebook needs its product detail, then delivery information and an available purchase action. They should not have to go back to the homepage to find each answer. The product-page example demonstrates the editorial part of that journey without adding a checkout here.
Choose labels that predict the destination
Use the words that describe the content: “Furniture repairs” explains more than “Solutions”; “Delivery and returns” explains more than “The details”. W3C's writing guidance recommends link wording that communicates the destination.
Keep the same label for the same destination across navigation and body copy where practical. Use contextual links to connect the next decision: from a service description to its assessment process, or from a product fact sheet to relevant delivery information.
Test the map before polishing the design
Ask someone unfamiliar with the project to find three things: a suitable service or product, the main limitation and the next action. Let them choose where to start without prompting them with your menu labels. Record the first place they try and any unanswered question.
If a page does not help with a distinct task, merge it or explain its missing job. If the important answer exists but nobody finds it, improve the label, order or contextual link before adding more content.
Move from this map to a website brief, then draft the homepage and the service page around those agreed tasks.
The source notes
Sources and further reading
- GOV.UK Service Manual: Learning about users and their needs Checked 4 November 2026
- W3C: Writing for Web Accessibility Checked 4 November 2026