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SUMit Roster Software > Nut's Weekly > March 1999 > Link | Nederlands· Search... |
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Monday, 8 March 1999 |
Where will a link lead you?
Will you remain
at the same website
or will you end up somewhere in Timbuktu
(www.wsu.edu/...)?
Software folks like to think in hierarchies.
Often their thoughts result into some multiple layer structure.
You could categorise the web into several categories, from a large scale to details, like:
"The Web", "country", "site", "subject", "page".
Here is an example of such a categorisation:
Cute structure, but it doesn't work. Pages link to random other pages. Those links cut right through subjects, move from site to site and from country to country. Does it matter where a link will go to? Surfing is surfing, isn't it? Well, I am not so sure. The pages on a site are usually coherent. I myself prefer to 'complete' a site before I surf on. After that I make some side steps to other sites, and return every time. I'll just surf a bit back and forth until my information hunger has been satisfied. I'll then leave permanently and surf to a next site. 'complete', 'side step' of 'leave'? There is a difference here.
Let's go back to the question:
"Should a link be predictable?"
To me it's similar to visiting a city as a tourist. Every city has it's own style and atmosphere. Small signs direct to several internal attractions. Other signs point out of town, to the highway for example. Those external signs look different. I'll apply the same distinction for web design:
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