Where was I?
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| Cerbera wrote: |
| How come a link to the current page (not an in-page link) in the content is confusing, but the same a link in the navigation box isn't? I'd have thought the expectation for a link to go to a different location would be even greater when placed in an area specifically for navigation? |
When I do global navigation I do buttons. I set them apart from the content. I make them look different. I make them behave differently. I go to a certain amount of trouble to make sure enduserguy thinks of global navigation links in a different way to the way she might a hyper link nestled somewhere in a document.
My TV has a little LED that flashes to provide a sort of feedback mechanism when you press buttons on the remote. Changing channels from BBC2 to BBC2 is pointless, yet the little LED flashes away anyway. But at least I know that it's me being a plonker by pressing the wrong button. If I pressed buttons and the TV decided on my behalf that I was a plonker and didn't bother flashing its little LED I'd panick and assume something was broken.
I'm sure Derek would engineer a better remote control with tiny servos and things so the BBC 2 button recedes behind a little trap door when already watching BBC2. But you know what...? That would just be freaky.
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@ mrjay. Excellent analogy._________________
Grant Broome
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Something that I've done on a site I'm working on at the moment is for a link that has an #active ID applied to it, not only does it get different visual styling to indicate you're on that page, but I've also set the cursor to 'default' which means that it doesn't change when you hover over it. Although I s'pose that's not much use to non-sighted users.
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[ot]
| Tyssen wrote: |
| Something that I've done on a site I'm working on at the moment is for a link that has an #active ID applied to it, not only does it get different visual styling to indicate you're on that page, but I've also set the cursor to 'default' which means that it doesn't change when you hover over it. Although I s'pose that's not much use to non-sighted users. |
Fwiw, I find (using PHP) to dynamically give the body a custom id provides greater flexibility, not only when it comes to specifying the 'current' link, but also throughout any other page-specific CSS and js operations.
If I then give each link option a custom id or class, I'm able to differentiate current links entirely automatically via the CSS.
This also means that I can use a single, static menu include that doesn't change from one page to the next.
e.g.
css
| Code: |
| #menu li {
background: #fc3; } body#home #mm_home, body#about #mm_about, body#widgets #mm_widgets, body#contact #mm_contact { background: #f00; } |
home page
| Code: |
| <body id="home">
… <ul id="menu"> <li id="mm_home"><a href="…">Home</a></li> <li id="mm_about"><a href="…">About</a></li> <li id="mm_widgets"><a href="…">Widgets</a></li> <li id="mm_contact"><a href="…">Contact</a></li> </ul> |
about page
| Code: |
| <body id="about">
… <ul id="menu"> <li id="mm_home"><a href="…">Home</a></li> <li id="mm_about"><a href="…">About</a></li> <li id="mm_widgets"><a href="…">Widgets</a></li> <li id="mm_contact"><a href="…">Contact</a></li> </ul> |
There are other means to dynamically differentiate the menu - e.g. PHP can be used to recognise the current link and dynamically appoint a custom class all from within a dynamically-generated menu, but I feel that using the custom body id offers great potential, not only for custom menus, but for any number of page-specific customisations within the CSS or the js DOM.
[/ot]
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| Bill Posters wrote: |
| I feel that using the custom body id offers great potential, not only for custom menus, but for any number of page-specific customisations within the CSS or the js DOM. |
That's a technique I use sometimes but I find it gets unweildy in your CSS if you have too many links.
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| Tyssen wrote: | ||
That's a technique I use sometimes but I find it gets unweildy in your CSS if you have too many links. |
So you go for the PHP dynamic menu generation approach?
I try to keep menu options to an effective minimum, at least per 'information layer' - say, around 6. I tend not to mind sticking the 'currency' CSS in for that number of options.
I half recall there being some kind of usability study (or several) which suggested that anything more than 7-9 options and users tend to get a kind of 'options overload' resulting in them failing to engage fully with the latter options.
...not that you should believe everything you read in a usability study.
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| Bill Posters wrote: |
| So you go for the PHP dynamic menu generation approach? |
Actually, thinking about it a bit more, it's not really to do with the number of links but how unique those links are, e.g., if each one has a different bg-image and I'm therefore applying a different style to each ID anyway, then I'll use the method as you've described. But if all the links are the same, I prefer to go with the li#active or a#active approach because taking your example again, the CSS for the active link will be just one line of code as opposed to four.
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Wow, I just had severe deja-vu.
Oh wait, now I remember:
http://www.accessifyforum.com/...
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Nomensa / AlastairC
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| Alastc wrote: |
| Wow, I just had severe deja-vu.
Oh wait, now I remember: http://www.accessifyforum.com/... |
I did too, back in the 3rd post in this thread.
| Bill Posters wrote: |
| …
I think I'm on record here at AF as being anti-'delinking' current links in navigation menus. Our own lengthy discussion on the subject ("Linking to current page" (Nov.2005)) reflected that it's an issue which people have strong views on, one way or the other.… |
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| Alastc wrote: |
I saw the topic and just couldn't read on  |
Some people just have no stamina.
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