Re: Completely unsatisfied navigational scenario

[Matthew Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

On 12 Aug, 2005, at 8:08 PM, Adam Hooper wrote:
> ...
> - Clicked the "T" link, to get the web page of professors whose last
> names begin with "T".
> - Scrolled to the professor, clicked on his name to see his web page.
> - Clicked "back" to get to the list of professors whose last names  
> begin with "T".
> - Clicked the "M" link to find my next professor.
> - Scrolled to my professor, clicked on his name to see his web page.
> - Clicked "back" to get back to the professor list.
> - Repeated 3 more times.
> - Wanted to go back to my first professor's web page.
>
> What I instinctively tried:
> - I clicked the little down-arrow next to the "back" button to see a
> list of my recently-browsed pages. I felt that those pages ought to  
> have been there.
> ...

Your expectation is exactly that documented by one of my former  
lecturers, Andy Cockburn, and his colleagues in a study of how people  
return to Web pages  
<http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/andrew.cockburn/papers/ 
itsRevisitation.pdf>. They have investigated a variety of alternative  
behaviors for the Back button  
<http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/andrew.cockburn/web_navigation.html>,  
which each have their benefits and drawbacks.

Meanwhile, Jakob Nielsen predicted five years ago that "Internet  
Explorer version 8.0 will be the first good Web browser that actually  
helps users navigate" <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000109.html>.

> Workarounds:
> - I could have used the History, but I don't want to open a whole new
> window: I feel like those pages should be easily available.

They are easily available in Firefox's "Go" menu, Internet Explorer for  
Mac's "Go" menu, and Safari's "History" menu. They are not available in  
Epiphany's "Go" menu, which annoys me  
<http://mail.gnome.org/archives/epiphany-list/2005-July/msg00055.html>.  
But even if this was implemented in Epiphany, I'd still have to dither  
subconsciously (like I do with Safari) wondering whether to choose the  
Back menu or the Go menu. I never dither when I'm using Exposé.

> ...
> It seems to me this exact same procedure crops up when browsing online
> mailing lists and -- most importantly -- Google search results.

Safari's SnapBack buttons are designed for this case, but I've never  
been able to train myself to use them. (More dithering, I guess.)

> I'm well aware that this post has absolutely no material that hasn't
> been discussed for ages, but I find it describes a very simple and very
> common use case. In fact, I'd guess that the solution to this simple  
> use case would probably cover around 90% of the use cases in which the
> "back/forward" paradigm breaks down.
>
> I only post this on the off chance that it inspires somebody.
> ...

As I said last month, I think any browser with Back and Forward buttons  
doesn't fulfil Epiphany's claim of "the simplest interface possible for  
a browser".

--
Matthew Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/