[Sigia-l] Redundant information and content

[SCoon at ameritrade.com]

Peter wrote:

"...However, even for smaller content stores, I've thought that faceted is the
way to go. Let's say you're a financial services site, and of the 40 product
types you have, there are car loans. Should such a thing be found under
"car" or "loans"? Why not both? Why not let some people find things by "car"
and others by "loans"?..."

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i'm not being a pain in the rear bumper, but for one, the business would perceive a car loan as a type of loan and not a type of car. in this instance, that business rule is pretty obvious and creating contextual navigation to "car loans" from the car section for users -- in a consistent area of the UI -- would not only reinforce the navigation schema of the domain, but allow for the institution of contextual cross-pollination. allow people to find objects as they relate to other objects. 

take amazon.com for an example in a large environment. amazon associates the product object with as many meta-subjects as necessary for the purpose (as well as others) of browsing top-down. but in looking at amazon, you'll notice that the object screens do not generate a breadcrumb to show contextual placement in the top down navigation. instead amazon uses ALL subject attributes in a contextual navigation devise of "see similar," thereby circumventing the creation of an "actual" home, but reinforcing a "cognitive" home.

these two examples are sans the design of a solid search system. adding that layer not only reinforces recall (terminology, general categories, etc.), but can create powerful direct navigation to objects without the need for knowing where they "live."

i think we're in agreement here.

/*spcoon*/