I will call you old school. I totally get what you're getting at. I really do. I like the idea that if a noun acts as a hyperlink, it should lead to the actual object that it describes.
However, this has always been contextual, and as far as I can see, will always be contextual. You're looking for a single object, but that can be different things in different contexts. A simple example: on Yahoo, if I click on a category, it will bring me to a more detailed search of all things within that category (until a certain point of course). If within wikipedia though, I click on a hyperlink within an article it will go to an article of that object within wikipedia. (check the bottom of a wikipedia article however, and you will find hyperlinks to out-of-context locations, but they are clearly marked and labelled to GIVE them context). Naturally, within the wikipedia scenario, we have the context of the "Wikipedia Experience". Users using wikipedia expect the hyperlinks to do a certain thing because they understand the context they are within. People using Yahoo expect the hyperlinks to act a certain way because they understand the context they are within. Hmm I hope I'm being clear here. Basically, what I'm trying to express is that within a certain environment, hyperlinks... even links in general, do different things. I feel like I could go really deep with this. It all comes down to the nature of the click of a mouse-button. Your question "When is a hyperlink NOT?". That's actually a tough question I think. We could limit the scope of context to that within a web-browser or even within a web-site. But that does nothing, because we are still dealing with mouse-clicks. And mouse-clicks, surely, have always been contextual. The only universal thing that is expected from any obvious clickable object being clicked on, is that SOMETHING will happen. What that is... is a matter of intuition. And this is where us designers come into play. A primary goal of ours is (or should be) to understand what is INTUITIVE. And moreso, make the things that are being used, intuitive. I do agree that the Washington Post and others alike that use a similar hyperlinking strategy are a bit off the mark usability wise. Is it intuitive? In fact I think the question should be: "When is a hyperlink NOT intuitive?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31271 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
