Re: UIE site (was FAQ Intranet site tips on visuals)

[Bill Burns <BillDB -at- ILE -dot- COM>]

Tracy writes:

> Because their own research indicates that, contrary to popular belief,
> people don't mind vertical scrolling. Obviously not everybody feels this
> way, but personally, I would rather scroll through one good, detailed
> TOC than click through 3 layers looking for what I want.
>
I'd agree with the first to a point. People don't mind scrolling a little,
but I don't think people want to scroll more than two pages (hardcopy bias
creeping in there) worth of content . The only thing I see on the site about
scrolling (though I haven't delved too deeply) is that one company's tactic
of minimizing scrolling neither helped nor hurt, but that doesn't support
the idea that people don't mind scrolling--only that it didn't affect this
particular site.

As far as clicking through layers, I hate going from a menu to multiple
submenus, but I prefer expanding-collapsing TOCs because they give my a
hierarchical perspective of the site (when they're well done).

I have to wonder, though, about this research (and I intend to follow up on
it). Some of the sites they claim are highly usable have poor track records
overall (and are even featured in Web Pages That Suck on occasion).

Bill  Burns - Eccentric Technology Consultant
ILE Communications Group
billdb -at- ile -dot- com
Call me fishmeal.

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