needing of the help...
Jan. 26th, 2006 06:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electriclandOK, so my boss is on yet another anti-link rampage.*
The issue is this. Back in the day when they were setting up our site, which is an information site for parents of children with complex medical conditions (epilepsy, diabetes, brain tumours, etc.), someone whom I have not met, but whom I curse on a regular basis, decided that Links Were Bad. The reasoning appears to go something along the lines of "This is a resource centre containing the sum of all human knowledge on this topic, so perfectly designed and written and intuitive that people will always be able to find what they need right off.** If we put in links to related pages in the same resource centre so that people can click them when they want more information, that will just be confusing."
Obviously this reasoning is WRONG WRONG WRONG AND INSANE, but for some reason he's not willing to take my word for it.
So, smart and knowledgeable friends, please help me! I need evidence that links=good, and not just in my personal opinion but in the opinion of right-thinking usability advocates everywhere. I have a few places to start, but if anyone has a favourite essay on the topic that they can suggest, that would be awesome.
*This is a strong word, and possibly unjustified, as he is open to discussion on the matter, or says he is.
**It will surprise none of you to learn that this is not precisely the case.
Edited to add a clarification: I'm talking about INTERNAL links within the same website: "For more information about X, please see this page in this section." He doesn't like external links either, but I'm picking my battles.
The issue is this. Back in the day when they were setting up our site, which is an information site for parents of children with complex medical conditions (epilepsy, diabetes, brain tumours, etc.), someone whom I have not met, but whom I curse on a regular basis, decided that Links Were Bad. The reasoning appears to go something along the lines of "This is a resource centre containing the sum of all human knowledge on this topic, so perfectly designed and written and intuitive that people will always be able to find what they need right off.** If we put in links to related pages in the same resource centre so that people can click them when they want more information, that will just be confusing."
Obviously this reasoning is WRONG WRONG WRONG AND INSANE, but for some reason he's not willing to take my word for it.
So, smart and knowledgeable friends, please help me! I need evidence that links=good, and not just in my personal opinion but in the opinion of right-thinking usability advocates everywhere. I have a few places to start, but if anyone has a favourite essay on the topic that they can suggest, that would be awesome.
*This is a strong word, and possibly unjustified, as he is open to discussion on the matter, or says he is.
**It will surprise none of you to learn that this is not precisely the case.
Edited to add a clarification: I'm talking about INTERNAL links within the same website: "For more information about X, please see this page in this section." He doesn't like external links either, but I'm picking my battles.
