RE: Page length and number of links

Interesting point of view from Jamal... as a sighted user, wouldn't have
considered it myself. 

A lot of possible content, such as legal or technical documentation, can't
be feasibly shortened or targeted at a more general reading level, so WCAG
doesn't cleanly apply. However, the content can be presented more than once:
one version as the whole document, another divided into sections. An example
is the Canadian Access to Information Act
(http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-1/index.html), which includes
links to the full document or chapter pages. 

Andy Keyworth
Senior Web Accessibility Specialist | T-Base Communications Inc.
19 Main Street | Ottawa, ON | K1S 1A9
Phone. 613. 236. 0866 Ext. 256 | Fax. 613. 236. 0484 | Toll free: 1. 800.
563. 0668 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Jamal Mazrui [mailto:empower@smart.net] 
Sent: June-21-13 9:39 AM
To: Vivienne CONWAY
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: Page length and number of links

Actually, As a screen reader user, I usually prefer a long page with a
complete document rather than multiple pages.  This allows me to invoke a
screen reader feature that reads continuously without interruption.  
It also allows me to do global searches on the whole document.

For example, when reading a newspaper or magazine article, I always search
initially for a "print" or "single page" view.  Otherwise, it can be quite
tedious to navigate to the next page and isolate the main content again.  I
think a lot of blind people share this perspective.

I do understand that sighted people or people with other disabilities have
different usability considerations.

Jamal

On 6/21/2013 6:26 AM, Vivienne CONWAY wrote:
> Thanks for that Morten.
>
> I agree, in that less is usually better.  For some reason people seem to
think they have to put everything on 1 page - often on the home page.  They
don't think about how tedious and often difficult it is for the user to find
the information they need.
>
>
> Regards
>
> Vivienne L. Conway, B.IT(Hons), MACS CT, AALIA(CS) PhD Candidate & 
> Sessional Lecturer, Edith Cowan University, Perth, W.A.
> Director, Web Key IT Pty Ltd.
> v.conway@ecu.edu.au
> v.conway@webkeyit.com
> Mob: 0415 383 673
>
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> ________________________________________
> From: Morten Tollefsen [morten@medialt.no]
> Sent: Friday, 21 June 2013 6:17 PM
> To: Patrick H. Lauke; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Subject: SV: Page length and number of links
>
> Hi!
>
> I agree with Patrick, and this is a classic usability topic. General
answers do not excist, at least the target group and type of content is
important. Steve Krug has some quite good usability statements (in the book
Don't make me think):
>
> 1. Don't make me think
> 2. It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click
is a mindless unambiguous choice.
> 3. Get rid of half the words on each page. Then get rid of half of whats
left.
>
> As Patrick write: "... though it may make their experience far more
tedious" is of course correct (and this is probably the reason why you asked
this question). An example is a page with hundreds of links without any
local page jumps: possible to use with a keyboard, but not efficient for the
keyboard youser.
>
> Morten Tollefsen
> www.medialt.no, +47 908 99 305
>
> -----Opprinnelig melding-----
> Fra: Patrick H. Lauke [mailto:redux@splintered.co.uk]
> Sendt: 21. juni 2013 11:31
> Til: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Emne: Re: Page length and number of links
>
> On 21/06/2013 09:55, Vivienne CONWAY wrote:
>> I'm looking for a bit of advice about the appropriate maximum length 
>> of a page and number of links on pages.  We recently came across a 
>> page that seems to go on forever and can't see any of the guidelines 
>> that actually deals with this issue.  The page is poorly divided up 
>> and that obviously comes under headings etc.
>> Also, wondering if anyone has any 'best practice' links on both this 
>> and the number of links that a page should limit itself to.  If you 
>> think either of these violates WCAG 2, I'd really like to hear how and
why.
> This sounds to me like more of a general usability issue rather than a
specific accessibility one (as overly long pages will likely affect all
users, not just specifically users with disabilities, though it may make
their experience far more tedious). And no, there doesn't seem to be
anything specific in WCAG 2.0 on this matter.
>
> It's difficult to say what length a page should be..."as long as it needs
to be" is possibly the only advice I could give.
>
> If this was part of an audit, I'd add it as a general remark about
usability.
>
> Sorry, not very helpful I guess...
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
> ______________________________________________________________
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Received on Friday, 21 June 2013 13:58:00 UTC