- Write a Heading as an Object You Will Reuse Many Times
- Offer Multiple Routes to the Same Information
- Write and Display Several Levels at Once
- When Users Arrive at the Target, Make Success Obvious
- Confirm the Location by Showing the Position of This Informative Object in the Hierarchy
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
When Users Arrive at the Target, Make Success Obvious
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Background: Confirm that the link worked
The greatest torture in the world for most people is to think.
—Luther Burbank
How often have you clicked a link, gone to a page, and wondered, "Did I click the wrong thing? This doesn't look like what I clicked."
Bait-and-switch links tempt you to click, but dump you onto a page where the title has nothing to do with the linktext.
To defend themselves against this common practice, users scope out the target page before settling in for a good read. They look at:
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The title ("Is it the same text as the linktext?")
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Any headings at the top of the page ("Same topic?")
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Any introductory text ("Is this about what I am after?")
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The caption under any prominent picture ("Forget the image. Does the text match my expectation?")
Only after some or all of these confirm that the page is on topic, relevant, and interesting, will the user bother to read any more text—or look at those gorgeous images.
To reassure users and confirm they reached the target page they were after:
Make the title text match the original link—exactly.
Make the title as descriptive as possible, moving keywords to the front, and assuming users will not see more than 65 characters.
Make any headings near the top of the page echo the same theme as the title. Ditto for headers (the text that appears at the top of each page in a section).
Write introductions to sum up the page accurately, to warn people off if the title itself confused them.
Consider captions as major content and write for the arriving visitor (who may not have looked at the image), rather than an intrigued fan who has just spent thirty seconds looking at the image.
Examples
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Before |
After |
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Linktext: Help Title: Frequently Asked Questions |
Linktext: Help Title: Help |
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Linktext: Home Office Supplies Title: So You Need a Stapler? |
Linktext: Home Office Supplies Title: Home Office Supplies |
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Linktext: Gardening Tips Title: Can You Dig This? |
Linktext: Getting a New Garden Shovel Title: Getting a New Garden Shovel |
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Heading: Shoveling and Hoeing Caption on nearby image: Sun brings out the robins. |
Heading: Choosing the Best Shovel for Your Soils and Seasons Caption on nearby image: Sharp-edged and shiny, a new shovel signals the start of a new year of gardening. |
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Figure 8 Before and After |
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Audience fit
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If visitors want this... |
How well does this guideline apply? |
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To have fun |
The misleading link, the confusing title, the heading that's not apropos, a skewed intro, and off-topic captions can be seen as intriguing, if your audience likes solving puzzles. If they just want to have fun, maybe not. |
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To learn |
Confirm arrival, to avoid distracting the learner. |
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To act |
Not following the guideline simply makes the user think and do more than expected, just to find out how to carry out the original task. Not cool. |
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To be aware |
Be gentle, even if your prose seems plain. Confirm that your guest has arrived. Pour some tea. |
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To get close to people |
Don't get them angry at you with loused-up links and misleading pages. |
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