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Subject:Re: Previous, Next and Print buttons in Help From:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:11:56 -0800
I think topic navigation buttons in Web help content should be labeled
Previous / Next given that browsers use Forward / Back for history
navigation.
I don't find the buttons in helpandmanual.com/help self-explanator
(particularly using an Eject icon for Top), because there are no text
labels or tooltips, though they're simple to figure out. I'd move them
to the left navbar above Contents | Index | Search rather than cutting
yet another half inch off the text-scroll area.
On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Leonard C. Porrello
<Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- soleratec -dot- com> wrote:
> I don't think the question of navigation and printing buttons is
> either/or. The buttons _could_ be redundant and confusing, but it really
> depends on what they actually do and how they play with the browser
> window and other graphical elements in the help window.
>
> In the help I create, the embedded Forward and Back buttons walk through
> the tree. The Back button does not necessarily take me back to the
> previous page I was viewing. The Print button prints just the help
> contents (without browser window flotsam).
>
> Check out the following: helpandmanual.com/help. Although I generally
> don't care for the esthetics of the help, I don't find the forward,
> back, top, and print buttons redundant or confusing in the least. To the
> contrary, since I often have several tabs open simultaneously, the
> buttons in the help enable me to more easily stay in the help world. In
> other words, I find the navigation is obvious and intuitive.
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