Aristedes Maniatis wrote:
I don't like the 'two links to the same thing' mainly because it is
unexpected and unusual. I've never seen a web site do it, and there
will inevitably be complaints like 'one of your links is broken - it
should point somewhere else'.
There's lots of interesting arguments surrounding this. Mainly, most
current Web site designs focus far more on aesthetics than usability. I
pine for the days when all links were blue and underlined. Nowadays I
have to move my mouse around until the cursor changes in order to find
links. The point being, I wouldn't use current Web design trends as the
basis for usability.
I also think that it admits to a failure in categorisation in the
first place. The difference between a table of contents and an index
(in a book), is that one shows you structure (like web navigation
does) and the other is a quick way to find content.
The data necessarily does not fall into a single category. Very few
things in life do. It's not a shortcoming as far as I'm concerned. It
appeals to how different people think. You may think of an email list
as support, I may think of it as collaboration. If I never think of it
as support, and that's where the link is, I'm never going to find it.
Or if I do find it, I'm never going to believe it was in a logical
place. This is why I was advocating discrete sections that map to
certain use patterns and including all necessary links in those
patterns. The only potential for confusion would be if a user viewed
the whole nav bar as a giant blob, but that shouldn't be the case since
you've chunked it off into sections anyway.
Web sites typically don't have an index since they have
htdig/Google/whatever instead, but navigation helps show the structure
of the site. I don't think this is particularly compatible with having
two links to the same thing.
"Do not" and "should not" are not necessarily the same thing ;-) All of
my ebooks have search capabilities, but also have indices. Some people
prefer search, others prefer the index. Having both doesn't seem to
induce confusion and lets each group of people find what they need
quickly. Obviously different contexts, but once again, I wouldn't look
to current Web trends as the pinnacle of usability.
But anyhow, thanks for all your help. I'll try and incorporate as much
as I can into the next revision. The big thing is to figure out the
Confluence templating next.
No problem. Thanks for putting all the time into this.
FYI, I brought this back on list because it moved from POLA back to the
Web site.
--
Kevin
Kevin Menard
Servprise International, Inc.
"Remote reboot without pulling the plug" -- http://www.servprise.com
