What To Do With Unused Letters?
by Chiara FoxI’m a big fan of indexes. There are many a content-focused website whose content could be made more findable with an A-Z index of the site content. There are lots of places on the web that talk about the merits of such indexes. Most will tell you to put a row of the alphabet at the top of the index, and have the letters be quick jumps (i.e., anchor links) to that section of the index.
But what about those letters that don’t have any entries? Do you show the letter and have it link to a message saying there’s no entries? Do you show the letter but have it not hyperlinked? Do you just remove the letter all together? Which option gives the better user experience?
This very question came up recently on a project I’m working on. My gut told me to show the letters but not make them links. But why? I looked high and low on the web for someplace that told me which was the better way, but I couldn’t find anything. Looking at examples of indexes wasn’t overly helpful for I saw sites doing it in all kinds of different ways.
So I turned to the wisdom of the crowds. I asked the question on Twitter and Plurk, as well as the Argus Associates Alumni. (Thanks to everyone who responded!) The overwhelming response was to show the links not hyperlinked, AND grayed out.
I also got multiple reasons for why this is the better approach:
- It preserves the pattern of the alphabet and makes glancing easier.
- Users don’t wonder why some letters are missing, which can make it look broken.
- It saves users from getting to a destination just to find out there’s nothing there for them.
- Some back-end work is saved if content is added in those areas in the future.
So there you have it. Be sure to include your unused letters at the top of your index, but gray them out and don’t make them links.
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June 11th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Well, i point out an oldie but goldie print design example where the unused letter is simply absent. No content to reference means no sign to show.
Reader know the alphabet and doesn’t need someone assuring him about the pattern in use.
Reader search for a specific letter and so he needs only a formal pattern not the entire sequence to reach its goal.
Reader doesn’t stare at the index, as we UI Designer stare. He is making an action. When we are acting we don’t read all the information the context give us. We read only what we need to know, the minimal bit of information, to concatenate the next behavioural pattern.
My 2 cents.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:07 am
It makes sense that in print indexes the unused letters don’t appear since there is no way to indicate to the reader that the letter is “grayed out” or unavailable. It’s either there or not.
However, I think in print indexes there is little need for the letters across the top of the index at all since the whole concept of hyperlinks doesn’t exist. There’s no need for these shortcut links. So I don’t think we can fully look to print for our answer.
I agree that we as designers probably fret over these decisions way more than users do. But what about the user that is looking for a word that starts with a missing letter. Does that tell him that his word isn’t there or does it make him wonder if the index is broken somehow? It’s that moment of hesitation and doubt that I’m trying to avoid.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:33 am
I agree with you Chiara.
Great article (and nice use of twitter/plurk for your research).
I was just wondering what you thought of LinkedIn’s use of the alphabet links on their Connections page. They place it down the left hand side instead of at the top.
I like the way it looks, but I wonder if they run into issues using that small frame to scroll contacts in. For me it’s been great.
You thoughts?
June 24th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hi Christen-
I think LinkIn’s putting the alphabet on the side instead of the top still works for them. (Notice that they do list all letters and gray out the ones without entries.) It fits in their visual design. Also, because of their page layout, I think the column of letters works well to convey the feeling that you are flipping though an address/contact book.
The box that they list the contacts in shows 12 at a time. That’s probably enough for most users. I doubt users have issues with scrolling if a name doesn’t appear in the frame at first.