Re: Navigation Proposal

[Michael Bernstein <webmaven lvcm com>]

Joakim Ziegler wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Dec 19, 2000 at 10:50:49PM -0800, Michael Bernstein wrote:
> >
> > This would leave us with four top level categories of
> > content:
> 
> > * About GNOME
> > * GNOME Community
> > * GNOME Foundation
> > * GNOME Software
> 
> > Which should be all encompassing, and fairly clear as to
> > where to look to find what you want. With only four top
> > level categories, these can be represented by a row of
> > buttons across the top, and second and third level
> > navigation can be accomplished with a right- or left-handed
> > vertical bar.
> 
> While nice in theory, I think this falls into the "too much abstraction"
> trap. Yes, it's a really nicely topical, logical hierarchy, but people expect
> stuff like "Development" to be a top level header.

I disagree. I think it's worth not creating a mixed
noun/verb categorization schema, and you'll actually confuse
people more if you don't excersize retsraint in this regard.
If I'm looking for documentation, do I find it under
'Software' or under 'Development'?

> Remember, we're not aiming for the perfect categorization system here (Dewey
> Decimal works really well, but it's hell to navigate for people who don't
> know it), we're aiming for something that's optimal to use. That means as few
> clicks as possible to the stuff that people use the most.

That comparison's a bit unfair. Dewey decimal attempts to
categorize all human knowledge, We're just trying to
categorize all of GNOME. And as far as the 'few clicks as
possible' goes, you've already noted that quick links and
in-line text links can give access to items deep within the
heirarchy.

Also, keep in mind that one of the goals of your
categorization schema should be maintainability. If you come
up with new content, it should be immediately obvious and
crystal clear which topic it falls under, and if you're
creating a new category in the future, it should be
immediately obvious whether it's a sub-category of an
existing topic, of if it's a new top-level category.

If you feel that more top level navigation items are needed,
I'll happily go along with that, but they need to be
logically distinct, not just re-parented branches.

It's better to have more than one categorization schema (as
I've suggested before), having a separate navigation device
for each, than to create mixed and hybrid schemas. So if you
want to ceate a second navigation device indicating the
audience, for example, that would work just fine (clicking
on the 'developer' item on the second bar could bring you to
a page of quick developer links) and allow people to find
what they're looking for in the way that they're most
comfortable.

HTH,

Michael Bernstein.