Wide vs. Deep Web Sites

Wide versus deep Web sites. Which is the better design option?

It is usually better to create a wide Web site than a deep one. A wide Web site is a site that pushes as much content as possible as close to the top level - home page - as possible.

All of the second level content is presented on the first level home page. Third level content is presented on second level pages. This minimizes the number of clicks that a user has to make to find the desired information.

This is assuming you don't have hundreds, or even thousands, of categories of information, such as the Yahoo! directory.

In this instance, it would be virtually impossible to use a wide layout, since you wouldn't be able to present all the second level content in the first level home page. In this case a deep layout is the best option.

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