Hi Sarah,
COLD WAR AND NAVIGATION CRITIQUE
A usability consideration with link duplication is the potential for
'navigational confusion'. This becomes more pronounced if there are
*apparent* differences either in presentation or wording of the
navigation. To polarise the issue, it can be useful to adopt a
'cold-war' mindset. Assume that navigation is the interface to a
military mainframe computer, where , at a moments notice the operator
has to deploy a countering anti-nuclear missile. In this hypothetical
situation hesitation caused by poor navigation labels or duplicate
navigation could have serious repercussions.
(I was put on to this particular paradigm by a Useit article
reappraising military computer interface standards from 1986: <
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050117_guidelines.html >)
SIGN-POSTS
In a previous incarnation of our corporate website, we eschewed
navigation at the top of the page entirely. Our rationale was, that
coming to the end of the content, presenting the user with the
top-level navigational options would be more efficient. No scrolling
back to the top of the page. Our thinking was changed by Steve Krug's
'Don't Make Me Think' (with its either ironic or unfortunate cover)
where he discusses navigation in terms of real-world signage. If
you're lost in an unfamiliar city do you look to your feet or up at
street signage? In addition, when a user looks to the top-level
navigation, it is likely that they are starting a new 'task'.
The street-signage analogy, coupled with Western reading traditions
of starting at the top left of a page convinced us to move our
navigation to the top of the screen (and only list
administrative-level links in the page footer).
For more support you could also refer your client to our glossary
entry on navigation: <
http://www.motive.co.nz/glossary/navigation.php >
Best regards,
--
Andy Kirkwood | Creative Director
Motive | web.design.integrity
http://www.motive.co.nz
ph: (04) 3 800 800 fx: (04) 970 9693
mob: 021 369 693
93 Rintoul St, Newtown
PO Box 7150, Wellington South, New Zealand
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