[Sigia-l] length of nav labels

[Jared M. Spool]

At 08:30 AM 7/25/2005, Hilary Marsh wrote:
>These are certainly longer than most sites' navigation labels, but are 
>they unreadable?

Unreadable? I don't think so. Usable? Not sure.

>Does anyone have statistics on this?

Yah, tons.

Basically, we learned a long time ago that the most effective links are 
typically 7 to 12 words in length. The important thing is that you have the 
right *trigger* word in that 7-12 mix. (Taking a five-word link and adding 
"click here" doesn't make it any better.)

Wrote more about trigger words here: (Free)

>The Right Trigger Words
>http://www.uie.com/articles/trigger_words/
>Nov 15, 2004
>When dealing with information, A web page only does one of two things: 
>either it contains the content that the user wants, or it contains links 
>to get them to the content they want. In this article, Jared shows how, 
>when creating new content, the designer's most important task is to 
>identify the users' trigger words--clues that will get them to the content 
>they desire.

Wrote more about links and scent here: (Costs money, sorry.)

>Designing for the Scent of Information
>http://www.uie.com/reports/scent_of_information/
>The Essentials Every Designer Needs to Know About How Users Navigate 
>Through Large Web Sites
>By Jared M. Spool, Christine Perfetti, and David Brittan

Jared

Jared M. Spool, Founding Principal
User Interface Engineering
4 Lookout Lane, Unit 4d
Middleton, MA 01949
978 777-9123
jspool at uie.com
http://www.uie.com