Chapter six is all about designing navigation. They state a basic fact: people wont use your website if they can't find their way around it. In most cases, a decision needs to be made whether to ask first or browse first. A website doesn't have a live person who can tell you where things are, which is why it's good to include a search box that gives appropriate answers.
If you choose to browse, typically you'd look at the homepage and click on the section that seems right, then click on a subsection and hopefully find what you want. However, if after a few clicks the user can't find what they want, they'll leave and look somewhere else.
There are three main purposes for navigation: to help us find what we're looking for, to tell us where we are and because it gives us something to hold on to. Navigation can put ground under our feet. There are also some other equally important functions that are often overlooked: it tells us what's here, it tells us how to use the site and it gives us confidence in the people who built it.
Seven steps to easy web nav:
http://www.smartisans.com/articles/web_navigation.aspx
Effective web nav:
http://webdesign.about.com/cs/webnavigation/a/aaeffectivenav.htm
Four bad web designs:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/bad-design.html
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