# The website navigation planning worksheet

Blitz Studio · Updated 2026-10-31

Source: https://blitzstudio.xyz/resources/website-navigation-planning-worksheet

Use this worksheet to connect visitor tasks, page destinations and navigation labels before changing a website menu. Copy the blank records into your project notes or download the editable Markdown version. This page does not collect or save completed answers.

## Describe the website and the review

- **Website and public address:**
- **Main audiences and evidence for them:**
- **Business purpose:**
- **Content and navigation decision owner:**
- **Design and implementation owners:**
- **Date, scope and starting assumptions:**
- **What needs to be learned or resolved:**

Use the [AI-built website review guide](https://blitzstudio.xyz/blog/how-to-review-an-ai-built-website-before-launch) when a generated draft needs its first acceptance review. Distinguish actual customer evidence from planning assumptions.

## Copy this record for each visitor task

- **Task in the visitor's words:**
- **Source of the task or assumption:**
- **Starting page or context:**
- **Information needed to complete the task:**
- **Intended destination and public URL:**
- **Destination content owner:**
- **Proposed navigation label:**
- **Why the label predicts this destination:**
- **Other labels it could be confused with:**
- **Repeated navigation or contextual link:**
- **Open question, owner and decision date:**

Confirm that the destination exists and answers the task. A label does not replace missing content. If several pages appear to answer the same task, record how their roles differ before adding them all to the menu.

## Review the repeated navigation

- **Purpose of each repeated destination:**
- **Proposed relative order and its rationale:**
- **Separate contact or other key action:**
- **How the current location is communicated:**
- **Where secondary navigation belongs:**
- **How the same destination is named elsewhere:**
- **Owner of changes to the repeated menu:**

Review the group of labels together. Do not choose a universal number of items without considering the website and its tasks. Keep the destination record current when a label or public route changes.

## Review desktop and mobile behavior

- **Desktop starting page and viewport:**
- **Mobile starting page and viewport:**
- **How the mobile menu opens and closes:**
- **Repeated items, relative order and destinations:**
- **Any additional secondary destinations and their purpose:**
- **Keyboard path and visible focus observations:**
- **Current-location observation:**
- **Unresolved implementation issue and owner:**

Record observed behavior in the built site. A mobile design image alone does not demonstrate opening, closing, keyboard use or correct destinations.

## Fictional task example

This example concerns a fictional consultancy. Replace its assumptions and decisions with the actual project's evidence.

- **Task:** Find out whether the team handles a project like mine.
- **Assumption:** The visitor wants to compare the offer with relevant previous work.
- **Destination:** A service explanation connected to approved project examples.
- **Possible labels:** Services for the offer, Work for the examples.
- **Potential confusion:** Discover could describe either destination without further context.
- **Review question:** Can a reviewer find the relevant information from the agreed starting page without being told which label to select?
- **Open decision:** Confirm the wording and grouping with evidence from the actual audience.

This is an illustrative planning record, not a participant-study result. No menu wording or path is claimed to improve conversion.

## Record one review attempt

- **Task instruction given to the reviewer:**
- **Starting URL and environment:**
- **Reviewer, date and method:**
- **Expected destination:**
- **Path actually followed:**
- **Where uncertainty or an error occurred:**
- **Whether the destination answered the task:**
- **Evidence location:**
- **Proposed change and rationale:**
- **Issue owner and repeat-review result:**

Keep the task instruction separate from the expected label. Asking someone to select Services tests a different question from asking them to find whether the business offers a particular service.

## Connect local links and actions

- **Useful next destinations within each page:**
- **Supporting resource or article links:**
- **Action label, destination or command:**
- **Expected immediate result:**
- **Actual observed result:**
- **Who maintains the connection:**

Use the [internal-link guide](https://blitzstudio.xyz/blog/how-to-plan-internal-links) for contextual paths and the [button-label guide](https://blitzstudio.xyz/blog/how-to-write-useful-website-button-labels) for action wording. A new page may need a local link or a topic listing rather than another repeated menu item.

## Sources and scope

- [W3C: menu structure](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/menus/structure/).
- [W3C: consistent navigation](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/consistent-navigation.html).

Prepared 31 October 2026. This worksheet supports a planning and review process; it is not an accessibility certification or a completed usability study. The example is fictional and the cover previews the actual resource. Keep completed records in the project's approved document system.