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I
had the following conversation with Jim Avery over the last week,
regarding the new Page Titling format at uidesign.net. I'd like
to hear your opinions on this topic. Have
you say...
Hi
David
I
am curious about the title of the document. It is clear that you
are giving the visitor a "spatial problem solving" clue. Why did
you use the sequence "Alan Cooper : Interview : uidesign.net" and
not "uidesign.net : Interview : Alan Cooper"?
Jim
Avery
Hi
Jim,
Actually,
I have adopted the advice in Jakob Nielsen's book, Designing Web
Usability. Jakob points out that if you bookmark several pages from
the same site, it is not very useful when reviewing the bookmarks
if you always see the title of the site e.g. "uidesign.net"
first. For example, a browser such as IE5 has a pull down "Favourites"
list which clips the text of long page titles. It is also fair to
say that Alan Cooper is a more interesting topic than uidesign.net
as we are told that Content is the most important. Therefore, I
decided to experiment by swapping the order I was using on the page
titles. The titles now focus on the content of the page rather than
the title of the website.
I
have to confess that the new style is not used consistently across
the whole site but I do try to be consistent with it on all new
pages.
David
David,
I
disagree with Mr. Nielsen on this point. If the title is being used
as a navigation aid, I would argue a left to right convention. But
hey, Mr. N makes a whole lot more money at this than I do.
Thanks,
Jim
Avery
A
follow-up on my earlier comment about page titles....
While
I would probably not use a page title in the manner that Nielsen
outlines, the key is to be consistent. Once a visitor understands
the construct, the important thing is remain true to the design.
I guess my real problem with the construct is grounded in my long
history of running on a Mac. The title on a Mac browser window is
centered (this is consistent with the Mac GUI) while the title on
a Windows browser starts on the top left. Nielsen's titling method
works better in the Windows world.
Regards,
Jim
Avery
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