Re: Multiple ways of accessing content

Greetings,


It makes sense to me to provide different access ways in Web apps, too, and
I'd be happy to hear any another opposing points of view. (I've actually
done precious little Win app dev.)

Early in my education, we learned about the advantages of giving users a
variety of "points of access" to the same information.  We then cater to
different users' mental models. And just their personal preferences. (Per
David B.)

It can also be helpful to provide shortcuts for accessing data and
functionality when users approach a task from different directions.

In web applications we (ideally) show users they have already taken a
particular path by color-coding the links and that can help avoid confusion.
Generally not so with Win apps, I believe.

Of course the trade-off is possibly adding clutter, and risking the
accidental use of different terms and colors and even icons for the same
paths and data.

Cheers,

David Austen

DRA 


       -----Original Message-----
       From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion) 
       [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David broschinsky
       Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 2:43 PM
       To: [email protected]
       Subject: Multiple ways of accessing content
       
       
       Having spent several years on both sides of the fence 
       (designing web and 
       windows UI), I have rarely had a reason to design a straight web 
       interface. Everything that was done by the win32 client, 
       we usually 
       mimicked to a degree in the web client.
       
       Now that I am working on a straight web interface for 
       the first time, I 
       find myself asking if it's necessary or even wise to 
       provide multiple 
       paths to the same content.  I imagine the answer can of 
       course be "it 
       depends".  In the Win32 world, it was originally thought 
       providing 
       different ways to
       the same content allows different types of users to 
       discover it the way 
       they might be thinking of it.
       
       On the web is this the case?  Early on I know that there 
       was much to do 
       made about creating mental maps of the web site/app but 
       does that make 
       sense for an web-based application?
       
       Thanks in advance for any help
       
       Dave Broschinsky
       [email protected]
       
       
           
       --------------------------------------------------------------
                  Tip of the Day: Postings must be in plain text
            CHI-WEB: www.sigchi.org/web POSTINGS: mailto:[email protected]
                     MODERATORS: mailto:[email protected]
              SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES & FAQ:  www.sigchi.org/web/faq.html
           
       --------------------------------------------------------------
       
       
       

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Tip of the Day: Quote only what you need from earlier postings
     CHI-WEB: www.sigchi.org/web POSTINGS: mailto:[email protected]
              MODERATORS: mailto:[email protected]
       SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES & FAQ:  www.sigchi.org/web/faq.html
    --------------------------------------------------------------