Need for trailing slash in menu?

Tidying up my navigation

[denisl]

So I have a small number of web sites and am having a relook at the navigation on each.
I have always used the full url but cannot find the answer to the best way to navigate to a directory.

Should it be
a) [mysite.com...]
b) [mysite.com...]
c) [mysite.com...]

[buckworks]

Chose (b) and use that pattern consistently.

Including the trailing slash saves a step for your server.

The (b) version is better than (c) for future-proofing. Your URLs could remain stable even if the technology in your site changed.

(b) also has the virtue of being shorter. Saving ten characters here, ten there can add up to shave time off your loading speed. Faster pages are always A Good Thing.

SEO-wise, the most important issue here is consistency. Whichever version you choose, use it consistently throughout your site and in any cross-linking you do with other sites. You want your link popularity to be focused on one URL only, not split among variant URLs.