[2] A List Apart. 2004. <http://www.alistapart.com/> (efferent)

Text Menu

A List Apart describes itself as: "A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards." The magazine appeals to web designers and thus puts a premium on its own design and function.

Although A List Apart presents the same header tab and side text menus that most efferent web sites offer, this site shows an interesting variation on the standard. Anchors here are not modest, but strikingly different from the surrounding texts. All anchors (embedded and menu) are all in the same orange color--and unlike USA TODAY [65], the color is reserved for anchors. Even the titles and bylines are anchors--and are in the anchor color.

Screenshot used by permission.

Embedded text links

A List Apart was one of only a few efferent sites to use embedded anchors. Like Questacon [55] and unlike Wikipedia [68], this menu-dense site uses embedded anchors sparingly (less than 10 per node). The Jew's Daughter [45] takes this sparse and noticeable anchor scheme to an extreme, using hte anchor as the pivotal point of the node, A List Apart uses anchors to point to additional information such as examples.

Like PeopleSoft [53], the anchors here are primarily denotative, highlighting an example or a reference link to further information. For example, the link "easier to digest in chunks" links to a textbook on teaching techniques, which includes a citation on chunking: "The power of chunking information into meaningful units was demonstrated in a study conducted with a single college student of average memory ability and intelligence (Ericsson, Chase, & Faloon, 1980). " [114] ."

Screenshot used by permission

Dynamic anchors

Like Six Sex Scenes [14], A List Apart turns the convention of coloring visited anchors on its head, by making visited anchors grey to match the text.