Primary schemes: Tossing in intros and exceptions

Text Menu




Sites may rely on one anchor scheme almost to the exclusion of any other, but may also provide some other forms of anchors to either introduce a site or set off other elements. These rarer forms of navigation gain importance in the reader's mind as the exceptions take the reader out of the main structure and force the reader to think about them in relation to the primary scheme.

Introductions

Some artistic works, begin with a graphic "site map" anchors which allow readers to determine which part of the work to enter, and then employ a single text anchor structure throughout the main body of the work. This sets the intro apart from the text, and provides visual cues that may not be possible within the main anchor properties. Within the main body of the text, however, the work may be consistent: Rob Kendall's Penetration [30] relies on a single consistent anchor structure, even to show readers shades of dynamic breadcrumbs.

Other elements

Sites often use a primary navigation scheme and rely on secondary schemes to present other, less essential material. Primary schemes can be:

  • Gamelike and random. War Games--Catch The LandMine!! [40] subverts the popup game as a single random anchor and uses a text menu at the bottom for secondary meta material.
  • Content driven. In a more simpler vein, Firefly [34] primarily uses graphic anchors to indicate the next major content node, while secondary text anchors spin to reveal different contexts within the current node.
  • Menu driven. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection [50], uses a primary anchor schema in both its side and top menu anchors: a blue text with a green highlight to show which anchor will now expand to show subchoices or trigger a link. Yet the screen also sprinkles a few other types of links, including common icons (an email and PDF) and spinoffs from icons such as the colored Google(TM)-like search text.


Screenshot used by permission.

Hiding the extras

Some works have hidden secondary navigation schemas, as I'm Simply Saying [35] provides " easter eggs" hidden anchors that further elucidate the striking anchor overlay.