embedded link density

[max khesin]

There has been a long argument as to whether high link density is good
for the users. Some say it is, as it contains more information, the
others say it is confusing. There is statistical study support for both
.. I am just wondering if having the main body in a column and putting
the relevant links in a sidebar may be a healthy compromise, have you
seen this style?

thanks,

max

[Ivo]

Re: embedded link density

"max khesin" <max@NcOviSsPiA oMntech.com> wrote in message
news:_Lt%b.2090 0$Im5.1013969@t wister.nyc.rr.c om...[color=blue]
> There has been a long argument as to whether high link density is good
> for the users. Some say it is, as it contains more information, the
> others say it is confusing. There is statistical study support for both
> . I am just wondering if having the main body in a column and putting
> the relevant links in a sidebar may be a healthy compromise, have you
> seen this style?
>
> thanks,
>
> max[/color]

Links in a sidebar, hm, ... that sounds like a menu!
And if it isn't a menu, well then that is confusing.
I may be missing your point, but a couple of links in the main body text
shouldn't scare people anymore these days. Turning every other word into a
link is of course not helpful for a proper appreciation of the text itself,
but so much depends on the content at hand that it is silly to have these
discussions.
The Google Webmaster Guidelines pages,
http://www.google.com/intl/nl/webmas...uidelines.html advise to keep the
total number of links on a page below one hundred:
"Houd het aantal koppelingen op één pagina enigszins binnen de perken
(maximaal 100)."
(I can't quote the English as they keep sending me this, changing /nl/ to
/en/ in the url doesn't help, and I am not going to delete my cookie).
It doesn't say whether those links should be in a sidebar or not, and I
don't think they they programmed the bot to care about that. If it cares
about anything, it 's whether the links on a page are relevant. That is my
understanding.
It boils down to the question what your site is really about, is there a lot
to read, or to do, for who you build your site, what kind of people you wish
to attract. If your website is aimed at internetophobic people, then keep
your links at a minimum and out of the way, otherwise, do as you think
appropriate,
Ivo

[Barbara de Zoete]

Re: embedded link density

max khesin wrote:
[color=blue]
> There has been a long argument as to whether high link density is good
> for the users. Some say it is, as it contains more information, the
> others say it is confusing. There is statistical study support for both
> .. I am just wondering if having the main body in a column and putting
> the relevant links in a sidebar may be a healthy compromise, have you
> seen this style?[/color]

I see it in use with weblogs, where one of the sidebars is a list of the
most recent links discussed in the log. That's convenient (I think).

But when displaying 'normal' content and reading text, I think the text
itself should contain the links to further information on the subject.
If it does, I can just click where I'm at and I dont have to look up the
link in a menu-like thingy somewhere else on my screen (if it is still
on screen, if the link is there at all).

--

Barbara

http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/weblog.html

http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/webontwerp.html

[Stephen Poley]

Re: embedded link density

On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 21:43:22 GMT, max khesin <max@NcOviSsPiA oMntech.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>There has been a long argument as to whether high link density is good
>for the users. Some say it is, as it contains more information, the
>others say it is confusing. There is statistical study support for both
>. I am just wondering if having the main body in a column and putting
>the relevant links in a sidebar may be a healthy compromise, have you
>seen this style?[/color]

I presume you are talking about links within normal paragraphs of text.

I would suggest that rather than worry about the density of such links,
the issues are (a) is it reasonably clear to the user what sort of
information he/she will get if he clicks on the link - i.e. is the link
text meaningful; and (b) is it information that is likely to be useful.

If the answer to both questions is yes, then a high density of links is
unlikely to be a problem. If the answer to both questions is no, then
even a small number of links is a problem.

If it is difficult to give a meaningful link text that fits naturally in
the flow of the paragraph, then putting such a link in a sidebar sounds
like a good move.

--
Stephen Poley

http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/