I got into a conversation with a usability person the other day who was objecting to how most site allow you to click back to the page you're currently on. I had thought that we'd need to fix this with jquery or php, but realized that there's a pretty simple CSS solution here that is worth considering:
http://css-tricks.com/pointer-events-current-nav/

So I tried it on my site's navigation - http://openconcept.ca - seemed to work fine. Then rolled it up for Genesis and tossed it up here for consideration.

I don't know how much of a usability concern this is, but there is really almost no new code added and perhaps eliminates some people's confusion.

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disabling_current_page_links.patch823 bytesmgifford

Comments

Jeff Burnz’s picture

Jeff Burnz commented

I'll think about it for a while, I'm not sure if I want to make such a bold assumption in a generic theme, I see the point and usefulness of it though.

mgifford’s picture

mgifford
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Primary language English
commented

Ack, wrong box

mgifford’s picture

mgifford
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Primary language English
commented

I thought I'd try it out. It's one more pattern to help users know where they are. It's an easy addition with CSS3, though it doesn't work with IE6.

However, it's also not something where there is a lot of demand for it.

matyeo’s picture

matyeo commented

Hi! This is the usability person Mike mentioned. My objection was not an opinion, but based on data from many years of usability testing - well, I guess it was an opinion with a basis in data!

In usability testing, we often find people clicking back to the page they are already on. This is usually due to poor design - for example, the page title does not match the link they clicked, the content does not match their expectations, etc. Even with a well-designed page, we find re-clicks at a level around 4-5% (easy to find the data in Google analytics, for example). On poorly-designed pages/sites, we find re-click levels of around 11-18%. On a recent site, I've seen 49% (I'm trying to work out why it's so high - I can't believe it!).

There are a whole set of factors that give users clues as to where they are in a site, and whether or not it's where they want to be. Some very basic 'You are here' clues include:
1. Highlighting the current page in the main navigation
2. Disabling the link in the main navigation to the page you are already on

Individually, these may seem to be minor issues, but they are often just another 'straw' that eventually breaks the usability of a site. Minor usability problems accumulate like barnacles on a ship's hull, until the 'drag' is significant.

These are also not factors that most users ask for - because they're not even aware of these low-level design and usability details.

My concern was that these 'you are here' clues should be the default in any navigation schema, whereas, in Drupal and other Open Source modules, the default seems to be the opposite.

Hope this explains the issues a little more.
Cheers.
Mike Atyeo
Neo Insight

mgifford’s picture

mgifford
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Primary language English
commented

Thanks for posting this Mike!

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented
Issue summary: View changes
Issue tags: -Needs usability review +Usability