[drupal-docs] Transitioning to header-free book pages (was Re:Styleguide)

[Ron Mahon]

Dries
I don't agree with you analyses of headers. 

If we change the name to headers to headlines the is a perfect analogy that
you can find all over the web. It's called a sales page.

There was a raging argument with in the marketing community about how long a
sales letter should be. 

I have tested this many times, manly because I believed no one would read a
long letter.  99% of the time the longer page succeeds.  My own sales
letters often exceed 10 -15 pages because that what works best. (I measure
every thing nothing is subject)

You are correct in that people don't read every word on a web page, the scan
the page.

The thing that lets them do that and still make sense is the headlines. 
Try it your self the next time you get one of those long sales letters. Read
only the headlines and sub headlines.

You will be able to get the gist in less than 3 seconds.  

I found that the long page to be informative and complete. A much better
experience than having to load 10 or 15 short pages and read them to
determine if  it is what I looking for. Which brings me to another point. In
my part of the world the drupal site is slowing down. It may be time for
another hardware upgrade.

I have in fact abandoned a quest for knowledge because of the slow response.
Victim of your own success?  

So one long complete page is friendlier.

I you agree with this, other rules of headline writing come in to play, and
I would be happy to help with that.

Regards
Ron 


InterNet Marketing Resource Center
A Free Super Mart of Articles, Demos, Tutorials everything you need to
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-----Original Message-----
From: Dries Buytaert [mailto:dries at buytaert.net] 
Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2005 4:22 AM
To: drupal-docs at drupal.org
Subject: Re: [drupal-docs] Transitioning to header-free book pages (was
Re:Styleguide)


On 01 May 2005, at 01:53, puregin wrote:
> Please do let me know what you think - love it, hate it, suggestions 
> for improvement?

I found it confusing for two reasons: (i) your example page is way too long
and (ii) I can't determine the page's structure in less than 3 seconds.

People don't read web pages from the first word to the last, they merely
scan them in order to (i) determine the structure and (ii) to find that one
paragraph they need.  When you write for the web, there shouldn't be any
noise; sentences should be brief and to the point.  
Pages should be short, allowing users to see and understand the page at a
glance.  I think short pages which clear structure are preferred.

I suggest we go with your earlier suggestion: (i) don't use headings in book
pages, (ii) create a new node for each heading and (iii) at all cost, avoid
book pages deeper than level 3 or 4.

--
Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/