File this little website design commentary under “Pet Peeves”. I’d add Pet Peeves as a category but I’m afraid WordPress’s taxonomy management system would, sua sponte, reject the petty peevishness.
Here’s the issue: Is there a clearer way of expressing the concepts of “newer” and “older” when it comes to site navigation of article archives?
Is “previous” clearer than “older”? Is “next” clearer than “older”? Is “next” synonymous with “old”? Is “previous” synonymous with “new”? Why bother with “previous” and “next” when what is really meant is “older” versus “newer”?
I’m tired of tripping over this upthrust little root in my walks down Site Navigation Lane. Sometimes “previous” is used to mean “older” and sometimes it’s used to mean “newer”. Ditto “next”.
Can’t we just get along, by agreeing that what we really mean? Isn’t archive navigation always a case of viewing old versus new material?
Do we really need to obfuscate the meaning by employing “next”? Isn’t “next” always going to mean “not here”, i.e., “something else” or “something new” as in “not this article or page, which you’re now viewing”? Does “next” really convey a sense of “where in time or order” – other than “not on this page”?
I dunno. Maybe I have my cranky hat on and it’s restricting the blood flow to my already enfeebled brain. However, given the aging of some 70 million Americans and countless other global babyboomers, might it not be a good idea to employ the K.I.S.S. rule of design?
Aren’t we really talking about the design of user navigation for navigating a site’s archives? Aren’t archives, in significant measure, about “Old $hit” and “New $hit”?
Oh design world, hear my plea! Keep it simple. Keep it clear. Throw out “previous” and “next”. Tell the truth. This is “Older”. This is “Newer”.
Using “Old” ain’t all bad.Old doesn’t have to be scary. Old doesn’t have to imply “uncool” or “less desirable” or “less usefull”.
And it’s far better than decrepit, expiring, doomed, . . . which would accurately describe the value of so many articles found in the archives in the digital era.
No related posts.