For those of you who aren't so familiar with web design, I'll have you know that navigation is the most important part of a web site. It is the main necessity that allows your site to be usable. I have just spent several hours myself completing the navigation system to my portfolio site, which I didn't realize would take me so long. The process can get a bit complicated when more pages are involved, however it is a requirement that everyone must have within a site.
The navigation of a site means excatly what you would think. It is a system of tools used to make it possible for the viewer to move from one page to another. "Back" buttons are navigation tools, for instance. In the article entitled "Where Am I" by Derek Powazek he described web navigation to have three parts: past, present, and future. The present is simply the page that you are on. You must have a title or some other element to allow the viewer to distinguish what they are looking at. The past would be where the viewer has previously visited within the site. The past can be obtained through a "back" button for example. The future demonstrates the other pages in the site. A navigation bar is useful for these purposes because each separate page of the site can be labeled and linked to that page when the viewer clicks on it.
Powazek listed three guidelines that are important when dealing with the navigation of a site. One rule is to never include a link to the page that you are currently on. This is just an unnecessary element that will confuse the viewer. When the viewer clicks on a link, they expect something to happen or to be brought to a new place. If this does not happen, it is just a waste of time. Number two is to always show where you are. This is good for making your site as simple as possible for the user. If you are on a page, there should be no more link to it, however a simple highlight of the text can be used for the viewer to glance at and automatically know where they are within the site. This is good advice to follow. The third and final rule listed is to think before you link. Not every page needs to be linked in the global navigation. If you feel that the user will not need a particular link on every single page, simply take it out. You can choose a number of links you want as your global navigation and go from there. Don't decide on anything until you know exactly how you want your site to be laid out.
I added a couple of sites below that demonstrate how an effective navigation bar works:
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