Uniformity: An Anatomy of Anchors

Uniformity: How consistent?
Uniform summary table: single, primary, multiple, inconsistent

Location, function, decoration and type properties belong to the individual anchor. However, uniformity, along with density, is an anchor property that can only be determined in relation to a site or entire work.

Authors must choose either to be consistent within a single, primary, or multiple strategy or to be inconsistent. Each approach provides authorial advantages and poses challenges, which are further emphasized or devalued depending on the properties chosen.

The advantage of predetermining and limiting the form and location of the anchors is that readers will have an easier time finding anchors as well as understanding where they are likely to lead. With a unified approach, authors can use the anchor scheme to educate readers to effectively navigate the site or work. Non-uniform approaches present ergodic challenges and are best reserved for works appealing to readers more willing to explore.

Single-mindedness

The single anchor schema presents the lowest learning curve and greatest interpretive power. For example, an author may decide that anchors should be presented only in a sidebar menus with anchor-free text. This separates the content from the navigation, clearly delineating interpretive and navigational tasks.

The more consistent the menus here, the more readers will rely on menus for navigation rather than interpretation. Or an author may choose to use merely embedded text and then, perhaps, just as a particular type of text such as nouns or adjectives or graphic anchors (e.g. Zenobia, Queen of Palmyria [10]). Here readers will tend to rely on a consistent interpretative schema, paying more attention and attributing more semiotic power to the embedded anchors as they are the only means of moving through the work.

Single anchor use further puts the anchors in the background where they become more of the text--readers do not have to search out and think about the different properties of the anchor.

More approaches: primary or multiple

Separate anchor schemas require more time to learn how each functions and the relationships between them. For example, an author might provide a combination of sidebar anchors and embedded anchors. These can play various denotative and connotative roles in the text.

The advantage of using a variety of anchor types and locations is that the author enjoys the greatest amount of flexibility when designing each anchor and destination of the link. That is, all the author needs to concentrate on is whether or not the individual link functions as designed when attached to the anchor. Note that multiple strategies can shape reader's expectations of types of anchors: menus tend to be more hierarchical and denotative while embedded text anchors tend to be more associative and connotative. These strategies can present a single look and feel: from a unified color scheme such as A List Apart [2] to a multiple color scheme in USA TODAY [65].

Inviting chaos: inconsistent

Contrarily, an author may determine that the work will be inconsistent to continually challenge and subvert any expectations the reader may be making. In this case, a densely anchored site with wider range of decoration, function, and type of anchors will serve to underscore this obfuscation.

Uniform summary table

Property	Bottom line	Efferent: Get information	Aesthetic: Explore, uncover meanings
Single: Sites or works that use only one anchor scheme.	A simple anchor scheme allows other elements to come to the fore and quickly guides readers expectations. The limitations can be used effectively to engender frustration. Simple anchors run the risk of being misinterpreted.	Idea Line [67] storytelling banner ads	25 Ways to Close a Photograph [41] Charmin' Cleary [16] Diagrams Series 5 [57] Joe's Heartbeat in Budapest [49] Pax [46] Reach [28] Same Day Test [25] The Jew's Daughter [45] The Rainbow Factory [22] True North [62] What We Will [66] Zenobia, Queen of Palmyria [10]
Primary: Sites or works that rely on one main anchor scheme but also use other secondary anchor schemes.	Primary schemes (usually embedded text or menus) provide the same quick expectations but also allow leeway for exceptions. Anchors are usually consistent with density, location, decoration, and type, which promotes consistent interpretive functions).	A List Apart [2] Hummer [23] Kidbuilding [31] Nevada Division of Environmental Protection [50] PeopleSoft [53] Wikipedia [68]	Firefly [34] Him [9] I'm Simply Saying [35] In The Changing Room [8] Penetration [30] Six Sex Scenes [14] War Games--Catch The LandMine!! [40]
Multiple: Sites or works that use more than one consistent anchor schemes and do not rely on one main anchor scheme.	Two or more separate consistent schemes may emerge in the same work to handle different purposes, such as menus, progression, or navigation and tone. Standard web designs use both menus and text links as multiple ways to the same material.	Adaptive Path[1] Bankrate [3] BBC [4] brandchannel [5] Cooperstown [6] Doonesbury [64] Earthtrends [12] FirstGov [18] Fuddruckers [19] Garnier Fructis [20] IDEO [24] Questacon [55] Poems That Go Archives [54] Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children [58] Saturn [60] USA TODAY [65]	Afterimage [7] afternoon [27] High Crimson [11] Marble Springs [36] Patchwork Girl [26] Reagan Library [47] Sand Loves [38] The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot [61] The Unknown [56] Victory Garden [48] ~water ~water ~water [59]
Inconsistent: Sites or works that use a variety of anchor schemes.	Inconsistent schemes keep the reader's attention focused on identifying anchors and their purposes, keeping the anchor content in the forefront.		_][ad][Dressed in a Skin C.ode [44] Lexia to Perplexia [43]