b5

Alphabetical organization at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group b

magnify image Figure B5.1 An alphabetically organized list works well when the list is fairly short and the pieces of information are unrelated, or when their names are well known.

Background

Used as part of MULTIPLE WAYS TO NAVIGATE (B1) and BROWSABLE CONTENT (B2), this pattern provides a way to organize a relatively small amount of content when the content is unrelated or is made up of items with well-known names.

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PROBLEM

Alphabetizing a list seems like an obvious way to organize content. Long alphabetical lists on a site, however, are cumbersome to use.

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SOLUTION

magnify image FigureB5.2 A page with the entire alphabetical list works best when it has links at the top to jump to each individual letter group.

Provide links to each letter group at the top of your single alphabetical list page of well-known items.

Other Patterns to Consider

Create an alphabetical TAB ROW (K3) at the top of your page that links to each letter’s group farther down on the page, or use PREDICTIVE INPUT (H11) to load specific sections of the alphabetical list.

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