People seek for information in different ways depending upon their needs. Some times they may be looking for a particular fact such as when did an event take place. Or they may be looking for information on how to make or do something. These people are looking to the net to answer a particular question. They know what the question is and use such things as a search field to find it.
However they may simply be browsing the net more for pleasure and stimulation in this case they do not know what information they want as they are in a different mode of enquiry. How they navigate your site will be different. What are people looking for on your site? How are people going to find information on your site? What mode of enquiry are they in are they just curious and browsing or are they seeking particular types of information?
In Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them Donna Maurer divides the way people seek information into Known-item, Exploratory, Don’t know what you need to know and Re-finding and points to ways of catering to these needs.
Maurer concludes
The most important issue is not whether you notice a mode of seeking information that fits into one of these categories, but that a range of modes exist. Observe how your users approach information, consider what it means, and design to allow them to achieve what they need
