RE: navigating Vs searching

Jon,

I think we need to keep in mind the distinction between searching, browsing, 
and actually getting information from the web.

In my doctoral course, Teaching and Learning on the Web, we are doing a lot of 
web based research for focus papers.  We look at resources on the web, 
including on-line journals and the like.  We frequently read this articles (at 
least skim them) on the web.  If our navigation were combined with a list of 
links, we would be able to get to the top of the article, the bottom of the 
article, and perhaps an occasional internal link.  But we might have pages of 
information that was inaccessible to keyboard navigation.

No, I think we need a way to navigate the *content* of the page as well as the 
links off of the page.

Denis

On Wednesday, November 04, 1998 10:45 AM, Jon Gunderson 
[SMTP:jongund@staff.uiuc.edu] wrote:
> I think the current guidelines put direct navigation into searching, since
> when it is discussed it usuaully refers to bring up a list of elements
> (i.e. links) and have the user use a numeric or aphabetic key board
> commands to move through the list.  I am not sure there is a big
> distinction between this type of direct navigation and the general concept
> of searching.  It potentially may be an easier sell, if it is discussed as
> searching (since many user agents already have search functions) than as
> some new keyboard based technique.
>
> What do people think about combining direct navigation with search functions?
>
> Jon
>
>
> At 09:12 AM 11/4/98 -0500, Kitch Barnicle wrote:
> >
> >In the "navigation" sections  of the guidelines and techniques it seems as
> >though we primarily refer to sequential navigation. Has the concept of
> >direct navigation been folded into searching?  To me the notion of
> >searching implies an extra step. While I think providing multiple ways to
> >search for items on a page is important, I don't want to totally lose the
> >concept of directly moving to a link or active element. What do people
> >think? Am I missing something?
> >
> >
> >Also, I am not sure what 5.6.3 means, "Allow the user to search for a link
> >in the current document based on its position."  Is this guideline a
> >substitute for providing numbered links?
> >
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Kitch
> >
> Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
> Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
> Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
> University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
> 1207 S. Oak Street
> Champaign, IL 61820
>
> Voice: 217-244-5870
> Fax: 217-333-0248
> E-mail: jongund@uiuc.edu
> WWW:	http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
> 	http://www.als.uiuc.edu/InfoTechAccess

Received on Friday, 6 November 1998 10:19:08 UTC