SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: Global nav during a process?
Re: SIGIA-L: Global nav during a process?
From: Jay Linden (jeigh_at_home.com)
Date: Mon Jul 23 2001 - 14:47:12 EDT
Steve.Mulder_at_corp.terralycos.com wrote:
>
> The question: Should global navigation (in this case, the top levels of
the
> hierarchical nav) appear on the page when the user is within a process
> (anything from email newsletter sign-up to search to checkout)?
There should be at least one way out, even if the "process" is a
multi-step, multi-page process that will be killed when the pages are
not submitted in succession.
The alternative is very crabby visitors, including those who:
- Want to refine their search and don't see a way of doing so other than
by starting again
- Want to stop a checkout process and change their orders
- Change their minds about a survey or other multi-part process, for
whatever reason (one good reason is that the survey is requesting too
much too-personal information)
- Were only using the shopcart process because the site gave them no
other way to find out about shipping or payment methods or taxation, and
now want to come back out
- Or most likely, simply change their mind and want to do something else
now instead, and don't want the site designer telling them they cannot
do so
The concept that transactions require more real estate than information
is generally false in every case where I've had to study or know so. It
is possible to create a basic site design and a basic transaction design
where the transaction requires more real estate, but I think one would
have to contrive to do so. Often the checkout page requires less space
than the product information pages.
There is no need to maintain the entire normally-available navigational
system, though it tends to be more comforting to the visitor when you
do. But there should at least be a "home" button and a link back to
where the visitor entered the "process" (history minus-however-many, if
the process jump-on point is not known).
If "un-interruptability" is critical, do the process in another window.
If it is *really* critical, consider everything from "always-on-top"
scripts to JS alert windows onClose. And expect really loud complaints
if it isn't way obvious to the user why you had to do that.
--
Jay Linden Toronto, Canada
e-business Advisor, IBM Global Services jeigh_at_home.com
These onions are MINE and not those of my EMPLOYER.
Wait, that should be OPINIONS. I have no idea whose onions these are.
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