The Previous / Next Conundrum
Ever spent time reading a blog? Sure you have! You're reading this one. Regardless of whether you're a heavy reader or happen to glance upon a blog every now and then, you've probably hit the bottom of the page at some point, ready to click a link to take you to a page with the older entries, because, well, you're a curious person, and why the hell shouldn't you be?
You're eager to hit that button. You yearn to hit that button. You summon all your mighty mouse-based energy, lift the index finger of doom, and...you stop. You don't click anything, because there are two choices at the bottom of the page, and you don't know which link will take you to where you want to go. You've become entwined in the previous/next conundrum.
Take a look at exhibit a, a screenshot of the LifeHacker footer. It's a lovely site, full of McGuyver-esque tips to make your life more...hacky. I love it, except for one thing. You happen to land on the site, but not on the homepage, and want to view some more recent posts. You have two links to choose from. Which is the correct link?
I would always say to see more recent posts, you'd click 'next', but I'd be wrong. The 'next' page is actually the previous page in terms of chronological ordering, and the previous page would show you newer content. That's mental. You effectively have to think backwards to go forwards.
Lifehacker aren't the only ones guilty of this wording faux pas, and it's a very disorienting concept to have to think backwards in terms of what's previous, and what's next. So, that's why this blog uses a different wording mechanism, and makes things a lot clearer, by describing the next page in terms of the age in relation to the page you're currently on. Thus, the links become 'Newer entries', and 'Older entries'. A simple, clear, trivial change which makes browsing LH so much more enjoyable.
- 25th April, 2007
- Usability, and The Internet.
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