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Hardware design On-screen design Next Bibliography Index Guideline 22 Guideline 21 Guideline 20 Guideline 19 Guideline 18 Guideline 17 Guideline 16 Guideline 15 Guideline 14 Guideline 13 Guideline 12 Guideline 11 Guideline 10 Guideline 9 Guideline 8 Guideline 7 Guideline 6 Guideline 5 Guideline 4 Guideline 3 Guideline 2 Guideline 1 Introduction Table of contents Previous On-screen design Hardware design Next page Bibliography Index Guideline 20 Guideline 19 Guideline 18 Guideline 17 Guideline 16 Guideline 15 Guideline 14 Guideline 13 Guideline 12 Guideline 11 Guideline 10 Guideline 9 Guideline 8 Guideline 7 Guideline 6 Guideline 5 Guideline 4 Guideline 3 Guideline 2 Guideline 1 Introduction Table of contents Previous page

"I was not attracted to [the book's] navigation. I felt it was difficult and confusing"

Participant in EBONI pilot experiment

Cross-referencing between the pages of a book, between the main text and table of contents, index, footnotes, glossary or references, and between two or more books is considered an important property of the printed medium. Readers strongly value the ability to achieve these cross-referencing tasks in an electronic environment, particularly in subjects such as law in which case reports and statutes are referred to rather than read sequentially. This can be difficult to achieve with the same simplicity and effectiveness as flicking through paper pages, but can be made more possible in an electronic book by adopting a strong structure and a clear and simple navigation system. The functionality provided by browsers (e.g. "Back", "Forward") is very basic and should not be relied on.

Incorporation of hypertext to link between structural elements of a book can greatly improve navigation. These guidelines recommend dividing a chapter into several pages in order to minimise scrolling; hyperlinked tables of contents for chapters can help users decide on the relevance of each chapter at a glance and makes it easier to find information on specific topics. It should be possible to move from one page to the next or previous page quicly and easily. Standard link colours should be used and the functions of any navigation icons should be explicit. The structure of a book should always be simple, uniform and clear.


6.1 Create a strong overt structure
6.2 Provide a clear navigation system
6.3 Separate references from the main text
6.4 Separate the glossary from the main text
6.5 Use hypertext to link:

a. from the table of contents to individual chapters
b. from index items to relevant sections of the book
c. from the main text to references, and back to the appropriate section of the main text
d. from the main text to the glossary (where available), and back to the appropriate section of the main text. This is a particularly important requirement for students learning languages, as it is often necessary to consult a glossary while reading a text
e. between the pages of a book (e.g. "page forward/page back") and from each page to browsing and searching tools (table of contents, index and search engine)

6.6 Create tables of contents for individual chapters
6.7 Use standard link colours
6.8 If using icons, make them easy to interpret
6.9 Do not rely on the functionality of a browser


Consult the following recommendations from the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0:
Guideline 1: Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content (including navigation icons)
Guideline 13: Provide clear navigation mechanisms

Figure 5

Figure 6. Use of hypertext: Hypertext in Context by Cliff McKnight, Andrew Dillon and John Richardson, redesigned by Joan Dunn

This chapter of Hypertext in Context, redesigned for EBONI's evaluations, uses hypertext to link between the main text and the glossary and references, and between the pages of the book.

At the top of each page are links to the table of contents for the chapter and to a sitemap. At the bottom of each page, links are provided to all the other pages in the chapter.

Click to enlarge

© EBONI 2000-2002
Screenshot used with author's permission