Posted by Jukka K. Korpela on 03/25/07 14:05

Scripsit Els:

>> There's surely a quick way to get to the top on your browser. You
>> just haven't found it yet, and satisfaction with some back to top
>> links helps you avoid finding the solution. :-)
>
> Even if that were true (which it isn't!),

If it isn't true, get a new browser or complain loudly to the vendor. It's
comparable to having no scrolling mechanism. Should authors add "previous
paragraph" and "next paragraph" links as well, on the grounds that some
browsers may lack functions for moving backward and forward?

> I'm happy to provide
> "superfluous" back to top links for those who haven't discovered the
> home button on their browser, for whatever reason.

It's a wrong decision, because they _are_ superfluous and add distraction
and even potential confusion. (Did you check my page of arguments against
"to top" links?) For example, those who want or need to move between links
using the tab key will _not_ like "to top" links between useful links.

> Also, just like I
> prefer to use my keyboard far more than my mouse, some people surf the
> web mainly by mouse - I think they prefer back to top links[1] too.

On the great majority of pages, they won't find such links, so they need to
work things out anyway. Once they do that, they can use either the keyboard
or the mouse (e.g., using the scrollbar) to get to the top on _any_ page.

> [1] Shouldn't 'back to top' also be wrong?

Of course.

> Who says I came from the top?

The misguided author who copies an idea or even code from pages where the
idea has been copied etc. There may have been an _original_ idea behind
this, but it was wrong. Most probably it was meant to help people, but it
didn't.

> I reckon it should just be
> "to top" links, not "back to top".

No, the "back" issue is distinct from the "to" or "go to" issue. Both are
wrong, as is the basic idea. I commented on adding the "go to" part. Well,
you _could_ be even more wrong, e.g. "Click on this to go back to top!".

--
Jukka K. Korpela ("Yucca")
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

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