[Sigia-l] length of nav labels

[Jared M. Spool]

More good questions.

At 11:17 PM 8/8/2005, Listera wrote:
>Boniface Lau:
>
> > That article includes a redesigned Analog Devices page which tested
> > very well with users.
>
>Inquiring minds would want to know just what the alternatives were. After
>all, in a more generalized context, Yahoo directories were utterly trashed
>by the Google single search-box approach.

Context is what it's all about.

Gotta keep this in mind: The Search Engine/Portal sites are a really 
different beast than a "normal" site.

On a normal site, the user expects to find content that's on the that site 
(or be told it's not available).

On a SE/Portal site, the user expects the SE/Portal to bring them someplace 
else.

Yahoo and Google are (for lack of a better way of saying it) trying to put 
all human knowledge on their home page. A normal site, such as Analog.com, 
is just trying to put a very small portion of knowledge -- that which is 
relevant to their business -- on their home page.

My theory on why the directories on Yahoo never quite took off was because 
of their breadth. They were just trying to do too much.

Now, that being said, we know something about search boxes -- the 
typein-boxes that users use to initiate a search, whether it be site-wide 
or web-wide:

Users in our studies follow a pattern when they come to a page:

They search the page for trigger words. If they don't find them, they'll 
often turn to the search capability on the site. When they do, what do they 
type into the search box? Their trigger words.

In other words, when users search, they are creating their own links with 
their own trigger words.

Yahoo couldn't provide the trigger words because their breadth was too damn 
wide. Users went to the search box and just typed in their trigger words. 
Google skipped the directory altogether, just providing the 
enter-your-trigger-word mechanism directly (and an I'm-Feeling-Lucky button 
for those adventurous folks).

So, you're right about the context. The contextual difference, as I see it, 
is that there's a point where you have so much content on your site (or 
thru your site) that you can no longer provide enough scent to any of it.

I bet that if Analog.com had tried the Google approach of a typein-box and 
two buttons, it would've failed miserably.

>I'm not saying Analog Devices design wasn't successful for them (I wouldn't
>know), but all this stuff is, as usual, contextual. The jump to
>'best-practice' hard numbers is, as usual, risky. But then again, I design
>stuff; I don't get paid to play with numbers.

Hee. I do. It's fun!

And, I couldn't design myself out of a paper bag.

My pappy always said, "That's why God invented both Chocolate *and* Vanilla."

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