On 6/12/04 2:23 PM, "Mordechai Peller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Kevin Futter wrote: > >> Yes, breadcrumb elements are strongly related in exactly the same way that >> sentence elements (i.e. words) are; and sentences can be rendered with >> precise meaning even if some words are omitted (prepositions, conjunctions, >> most adverbs, many adjectives). >> > Not at all in the same way. Each word in a sentence gets its meaning > from the sentence, while with breadcrumbs its the list which receives > meaning from the items. It's the commonality which the items bring to > the list which gives the list meaning. Words of a sentence have no > commonality outside the sentence. > > Removing any word from a sentence removes meaning from the sentence. > Take "His car," versus "His blue car." The latter conveys more meaning > than the former. A longer breadcrumb list may provide more information > than a shorter one, but no additional meaning. I think we're crossing at talked purposes here. I see breadcrumbs as a complete unit - just as a file path is a complete unit; take out a component and you render it useless. The fact that each breadcrumb unit is hyperlinked to the resource it represents is less important in my view than the fact that they clearly show where you are in the document hierarchy. And therein lies the rub: lists are one-dimensional, as you yourself point out elsewhere; breadcrumbs attempt to represent a path across the document hierarchy, whereas lists imply, and are taken to imply, that each element exists on the same hierarchical plane. To me, they imply a semantic structure that is not consistent with what breadcrumbs are trying to achieve. > A word outside a sentence is of little > worth, however, the value of a link is unchanged irrespective of whether > or not it's in a list. If I were to say "blue," you would likely respond > "'Blue" what?" because the word "blue" isn't useful on its own. On the > other hand, the link "http://www.somedomain.com/thispage.html"; means the > same thing wherever you encounter it. I disagree - there is profound meaning in a single word, but we're definitely off-topic for web standards now! But as I said earlier, I'm not so interested in the individual breadcrumb components, linked or not, as I am in the breadcrumb unit as a whole. -- Kevin Futter Webmaster, St. Bernard's College http://www.sbc.melb.catholic.edu.au/ ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
