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Discussion: Anchor tags and/or Table of Contents
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Posted Anonymously |
Anchor tags and/or Table of Contents
Jun 3 2009, 2:50 PM EDT
This has been suggested many times before, but I think it bears repeating. Addition of a function to add anchor tags and/or insert a table of contents in a page would vastly increase the accessibility of Wetpaint. As it currently stands, the only real organizational navigation is in the sidebar and that's limited to between pages. For sites with large amounts of content, navigating within that content can become cumbersome if it is broken up between separate pages; conversely, if content is all placed in a single page, finding it becomes difficult. Addition of anchor tags or a ToC would alleviate that situation a bit allowing users to navigate within a page and therefore clean up some of the sidebar congestion. Furthermore, I think that enabling pages with larger amounts of organized content (and therefore limiting required inter-page navigation) would enhance the visiting experience for users with slow computers/connections.The FAQs actually state that one of the best practices for putting together a page is "putting everything above the fold." A ToC is one of the purest examples of that philosophy, by giving users a quick rundown of everything of interest within a page. I think this functionality really ought to be one of Wetpaint's primary development goals if it currently isn't (as it stands on the Make a Suggestion poll, it's running pretty far behind the top three). 6 out of 6 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Hadye |
1. RE: Anchor tags and/or Table of Contents
Jun 3 2009, 6:39 PM EDT
While linking to another spot in the page is not possible with wetpaint's editing system, there are a number of ways to improve navigation on your site. Linking to another page of your wiki while in easy edit mode is easy. Highlight the text you want to link and click "link." You don't even have to enter a URL, just type the name of the page and you're done. http://www.wetpaintcentral.com/page/add+link/ Wetpaint has easy to remember URL's for pages, accounts, and features. If you know the name of the page you need to get to it's easy to type in the URL of your site: http://www.wetpaintcentral.com, for example, then add the /page/page+name+here/ ending. For improved navigation it's a good idea to put quick links at the bottom of each page. A standard quick link set includes a few links to commonly used areas, each separated with a "|" symbol. Here's an example: http://bumblepool.wetpaint.com/ You might not be aware of this but every wetpaint wiki comes with a built in site map. http://www.wetpaintcentral.com/sitemap/ It's a good idea to put a link to the site map on your home page for the benefit of newer users. Hadye WPC Mod 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Posted Anonymously |
2. RE: Anchor tags and/or Table of Contents
Jun 3 2009, 7:19 PM EDT
I may not have been clear on what I meant by navigation. I was commenting more about the lack of a clear organization of content (and facilitating moving around in such content), as opposed to traveling between different pages. The sidebar menu gives heirarchy of pages which could serve as a limited table of contents; however, this menu does not give any idea of the content of those (sub)pages unless said content is explicitly given in the page title. An editable ToC would give users a clearer idea of what to expect on a page. As it currently stands, Wetpaint is designed for sites with numerous small pages, and therefore limits its utility to sites with fewer-but-richer pages. For instance, if I wanted to put up a product page that included marketing language alongside some technical specifications, I would like to have links that allow the user to quickly skip within the page to those different sections, rather than separating them into different pages. This would be important since it allows me to deliver to a segment of users that have slow access speeds--while the 5-10 second load time may not seem like much initially, if a user is constantly switching between pages the combined waiting time can be wearying (and thus drive off potential users). I don't mean to make this post sound that critical of Wetpaint as a whole--I just wanted to put forth a compelling argument to advance the priority of enabling anchor tags. As a company Wetpaint is trying to market to multiple segments that sometimes have different priorities; as a (potential) business user my priorities are focused on the utility of my site to the consumer user. Anchor tags would greatly enhance that utility by enabling me to better communicate my information to my users. Incidentally, I do know that I could be using Wetpaint Injected on my own server, but having WP hosting my site would make the situation much easier on my end. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Hadye |
3. RE: Anchor tags and/or Table of Contents
Jun 7 2009, 9:54 AM EDT
| Post edited: Jun 7 2009, 10:01 AM EDT
I see what you mean now. Your argument is very convincing and I understand why businesses using wetpaint would find anchor linking very practical. I am not a wetpaint employee so I cannot guarantee that this feature will be available. I think your thread is a good reason to move anchor linking up on this list of suggestions. That is something I can and will do. Thank you for your suggestions.
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Lubbeelou |
4. RE: Anchor tags and/or Table of Contents
Oct 8 2009, 9:29 AM EDT
I think this is a very good idea, I have been wondering if Wetpaint support this feature for a while now.
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