Posted by Adrienne Boswell on 07/26/06 01:44

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed "Jukka K. Korpela"
<jkorpela@cs.tut.fi> writing in
news:78wxg.25017$r07.23235@reader1.news.jippii.net:

> Adrienne Boswell <arbpen@yahoo.com> scripsit:
>
>> Seems to me I answered a post about this... but I need to convince my
>> boss of some things, so I am coming to alt.html.
>
> I'm afraid I don't quite follow. Are you referring to some previous
> discussions? And what's the general context that the question relates
> to? URL?
>

Thank you for replying, Jukka. I always really respect your opinion. I
mentioned this incase someone said something, but on second thought, it
was another group.

>> My idea:
>> <h2>Accessories Stores in Glendale</h2>
>
> Is this supposed to be the main heading of a page? Why is it <h2> then
> and not <h1>?

The h1 is elsewhere, actually in the heading of the page, so it looks
like:
<h1>nextBlock Glendale CA</h1>
<h2>Accessories Stores in Glendale</h2>

>
> What's the nature of the page? Is it dynamically generated in response
> to a search request, as it seems to me?

It is dynamically generated either from a link to the page or from a
search.

>
>> <div class="youarehere">You are here - Home > Categories >
>> Stores/Accessories</div>
>
> Home of what? How much is Stores divided by Accessories? I mean more
> exactly than being smaller than Categories. (I hope you get my idea:
> this kind of "breadcrumb trail" isn't quite self-explanatory and
> unambiguous.)

Ah... it's not a division, but you are right; it might be interpreted
that way. Actually its Accessories Stores. There are about 33 different
stores, restaurants and services. You could have Sandwiches Restaurants
or Computers Services or Teens Stores, etc.

>
>> <table>
>> <caption><span class="results">There are 10 products and 100
>> merchants</span><span class="pagination">Page 1 2 3 4
>> Next</span></caption>
>> ....
>> </table>
>
> What have you got in "...", which has no counterpart in the
> alternative design? Or is the description just somewhat incomplete, so
> that the other design has <table>...</table>, too?

I didn't want to post data, hence ...

>
> Do you want the caption to be rendered as
>
> There are 10 products and 100 merchantsPage 1 2 3 4 Next
>
> when styling is off? It seems that you would need some block level
> elements inside <caption>, and this suggests that it's not really a
> table caption, logically. But if you use such an approach, I would at
> least suggest putting a <br> between the <span> elements.

I agree.

>
>> Her idea:
>> <h2>Accessories Stores in Glendale</h2>
>> <div class="results">There are 10 products and 100 merchants</div>
>> <div class="tableheader"><div class="youarehere">You are here - Home
>> > Categories > Stores/Accessories</div><div class="pagination">Page 1
>> 2 3 4 Next</div></div>
>>
>> Opinions? Which makes more sense?
>
> It's not really a table header, or a table caption, is it? So I
> wouldn't make it <caption>, and I wouldn't use a class name like
> "tableheader".
>
> I don't see much difference between the designs, except technically.
> But regarding the order of the result summary, the breadcrumb trail,
> and the "pagination" links, I'd vote for putting first things first.
> The most important information to the user is the summary of the
> results.
>
> I think the real problems are:
> - Is the breadcrumb needed at all? If present, should it be _after_
> the results? (Should a person using a speech browser hear the
> breadcrumb text, probably ">" read as "greater than", on each and
> every result page when doing a lot of queries?)
> - Should the links Page 1 2 3 4 Next appear there or after the first
> part of results? (Wouldn't a user normally want to read the results
> first, then perhaps proceed to other parts?)
> - Is the "Page 1 2 3 4 Next" style really a good one? Many search
> engines use it, but why? Normally the "Next" (or "Next results") links
> is the only link that is really needed. At least I would put it
> _first_. (Consider a person using the tab key to move from one link to
> the next. Shouldn't he first get to the link he really needs?)
>
> I would recommend something like
>
><h1>Search results: Accessories Stores in Glendale</h1>
>
><div class="summary">Found 10 products and 100 merchants.</div>
>
><table>
> ... (actual results here; could be written as <ol> too)
></table>
>
><div class="next"><a rel="next" href="...">Next set of
>results</a></div>
>
> If you use a <caption>, it should be a caption for the _table_,
> presumably the first set of results (hits), so if it mentions some
> numbers, they should relate to those results, not the entire
> collection of results.
>

Thank you, again, Jukka, you have given me a lot of food for thought.

--
Adrienne Boswell at Home
Arbpen Web Site Design Services
http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
Please respond to the group so others can share

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