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Re: Re[2]: Re[2]: Dayton Art Alternative Descriptions

for

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Nov 10, 2004 10:36AM

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004, chnnb wrote:

> Isn't there a value in providing basic site
> navigation links on every page?

Yes, but the value is negative. :-)

Would you like watch TV so that 1/4 of the screen on the left is devoted
to "links" to other channels that you might now be watching?

Site navigation
- wastes screen real estate, which is very relevant to people
using small screens _or_ make use of the "windowing" concept
and have several windows on the screen (e.g., side by side)
- distracts the user, since normally the user is _either_ trying
to understand the content _or_ find his way to more interesting
content; especially if the navigation bar looks nice, it distracts
people who find it difficult to concentrate.

> Is placing the site navigation links linearly at the end of a page a
> recommended best practice, then?

If you ask me, the best way is to include one, two, or three key
navigation links at the end of a page.

> I guess you need to indicate the location
> of site navigation links to those users somehow, though.

Not really.

> Is that what you
> mean about finding a way to indicate where the navigation or metainformation
> is?

No, what I mean is that when the content proper ends, the user should hear
or see a clear indication of this. Naivistically, this could mean the
phrase (End of content of the page.). Using

might be a reasonable compromise.

--
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/