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Re: table paging

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From: Langum, Michael J
Date: Jan 31, 2011 10:00AM

It seems to me that the important issue here is what is the most appropriate form of navigation for large multi-page documents.

We need to ask, how will users navigate the content. In my experience, navigation by links to content blocks (e.g. chapter and section titles) is usually most appropriate. I think it is rare when users need to navigate by page number.

But I can imagine cases (e.g. you can find the answer to your question on page 132), where page navigation is desirable. But in these cases, PDF is usually preferable. And PDF readers have built-in page navigation.

If a large document must be provided in HTML, and must be navigable by page reference, then the implication is that the user (when beginning his session) already knows what page he/she wants. In that case an edit field seems more useful that a large drop-down list.

-- Mike