Aloys wrote:Why do you hate wikis?
Well, you asked for it...
Short answer: Ease of navigation.
Very long asnwer:
Most wikis violate fundamental rules of useability for informational web sites: the user must never get lost, he must always know where he is and see where he wants to go. He is USING your web site, not killing time.
This pretty much dictates:
1- having a useful path on the screen at all times (where am I);
2- having a useful navigational tree on the screen at all times (where do I want to go);
Let's look at the Alcugs wiki which is pretty much typical (it uses mediaWiki which is the
de facto standard). Start at the main page:
http://alcugs.almlys.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page.
There is a navigational menu at the left which seems to comply with rule 2. But it is not useful, as it does not relate to the informational content of the wiki. Scrolling down the main page, you see some main topics:
- Introduction
- PRP Blender Plugins (PyPRP)
- Unofficial Ages
- Troubleshooting, Bugs, Suggestions
- Historical Archives
These should be in the menu on the left, under a general heading named "Contents". Clicking on "Contents" should open this list. Clicking on the list shoulg either load the required page or open a lower-level list.
Now let's see what Ages exist. Down on the main page, there's a link for "List of Available Ages". Clicking on it loads a new page titled "UnofficialAgeList" (1). I'm on the page now, but the menu at the left has not changed, and there is no way, anywhere on the page, to go back to the previous level, apart from the "back" button, which is not a reliable navigational tool anymore (2). All I can do is go back to the main page. This is bad.
There is now a content menu on the page, which is good, but it is not in the navigational menu on the left, which is bad. If I want to use it I must scroll back to the top of the page, which is bad.
Now that I have ventured deeper in the site's structure, I don't remember where I am. Looking around on the page, there is nothing that tells me that. I'm lost. Why isn't there a path at the top similar to what the GoW forum shows me? It should say "Contents / Unofficial Ages / Unofficial Ages List. Those three elements should be clickable.
For an example of what I'm talking about see this link to a site I made some years ago:
http://collegegarnier.qc.ca/spip/rubriq ... rubrique=3Even though it is in French language, you can try the navigational tools. You will find:
- A dynamic navigational menu on the right, with square bullets for terminal links and arrows for links with sub-sections (I'd rather have it on the left but the client wanted it on the right);
- Page titles with the exact same name as the links;
- A dynamic path always displayed at the top (always exactly at the same location).
Of course, I have invented nothing about useability best practices. All I know comes from the excellent work of Jakob Nielsen, well-known useability guru since well before the Web was born. See his site
http://useit.com for lots of enlightening material.
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(1) Oops, another big useability no-no. The link and the title should be in sync, otherwise it is confusing and very difficult to find the place again using a search function. Even worse, the meaning of the title differs from that of the link. Which one is it?
(2) As an author you don't have full control of the user's browser. You can't predict where the back button will lead, especially with the new multi-tabbed browsers, the plug-ins, frames, applets, etc.
by Nadnerb » Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:20 am 
But mainaining servers is not always simple, or free.)
