[Sigia-l] IA myths: conceptual model of navigation - was: mixing apples and oranges and tomatoes

[PeterV]

At 01:30 PM 4/11/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>  so the user becomes unable to build a conceptual model of the site over 
> time.

Which to me seem one of the great myths of IA: this whole 
building-a-conceptual-model-of-the-navigation business.

I've never seen much evidence that users build a conceptual model of a 
site's *navigational system*. What they seem to do is to remember the path 
(in the form of remembering links and where they are on the page) they took 
to a certain destination, and repeat that path. They do have a conceptual 
model of *how things work*, but for me that isn't directly related to 
navigation paths. It seems more related to general attributes, like "This 
is a site where you can find reliable reviews", or "The news here is always 
interesting".

There are of course the "left hand links are navigation" and "top right 
corner is home" thingies, but I'd call those conventions, not conceptual 
models. Any insights to share on this?
PeterV
http://petervandijck.net