[thelist] advisability of links to the current page (WAS: <h1> + images + search engines penalties)

Sarah Adams mrsanders at designshift.com
Thu May 25 08:40:44 CDT 2006


>> What is the use of a link that points to the current page on the
>> current page, unless you display dynamic data that changes over time
>> ("reload this" link)?
> 
> I can see why this *might* be usefull, but I would assume that users
> of assistive technology are more interrested in the page title, page
> header and content to verify which page they are on. Instead of
> reading through the list of navigation items and realising that one of
> them is unlinked - which therefore must meen the current page.

I don't think anyone's suggesting the self-referential link remain only 
to let the user know which page they are on.

> Maybe the case is that it doesn't hurt to remove self referential
> links and could possibly help some users.

Say you have a navigation list of the pages of your site - does it make 
sense to remove the current page from that list just because you are on 
that page? No it doesn't, IMHO. I think it should remain, at a minimum 
as unlinked text, as a link if it's dynamic content.

-- 
sarah adams
web developer & programmer
portfolio: http://sarah.designshift.com
blog: http://hardedge.ca



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