[thelist] Opinion on Navigation

Marc Seyon seyon at delime.com
Thu Dec 13 15:58:39 CST 2001


At 12/13/2001 10:07 AM, you wrote:
>Evolters :
>
>I'm sure you all have seen the cookie crumbs navigation technique, ie.
>
>Home > Products > Widgets > Widget001 > Details > Purchase
>
>I was wondering if such a navigation system (when combined with others) 
>provides a better user experience? Or does it tell the user (hey, I think 
>you are too dumb to follow your way around)? Any opinions on this would be 
>appreciated.

<Response/personal peeve>

I've been doing something of an informal test. Whenever I find a really 
great article (usually by following a direct link), after reading it I go 
to the site's homepage, and attempt to refind the article, using the site's 
navigation/search functionality.

Wanna know how often I succeed? Seldomly. Quite often I am unable to even 
refind the SECTION I was in. Wanna know how often I succeed without having 
to jump through flaming hoops and other such impracticalities? Almost never.

I've noticed on most sites that go more than a couple levels deep, 
navigating the site is an exercise in futility. In almost all these cases, 
cookie crumbs would help immensely!

So what's my rationale for this test? If I follow a link (from another 
site) to a great article, chances are I'll want to look for other similar 
articles on the same level of that site.

regards.
-marc




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