Websites / blogs / e-mails / forums are increasingly a part of modern life. One side-effect is information overload.
There are ways in which people can contribute to the net that help with this. There are ways that do not help. This is the first of a series of short posts that plead for considerate net use. I’m sure nobody is deliberately obstructive in any of the ways I will outline. In which case, people need to point out what consitutes good etiquette and why – otherwise considerate people will continue making cyberspace more difficult to navigate – without realising it.
Here’s my first – and I’m seeing it with increasing frequency. If you want to link to a web-page – either on another webpage, or in an e-mail, please choose the text you use for your link with care. The text that I click on to follow the link should tell me where I’m about to go.
- Very common, and not good: Click HERE
- Better: See James Oakley’s post on etiquette
- Better still: See James Oakley’s post on etiquette.
If you knew of several people who had posted on this theme, you’d link
- Not to: “Three posts on etiquette HERE, HERE and HERE. “
- Nor to: “James Oakley, John Smith and Bob Small have written on etiquette HERE, HERE and HERE. “
- But, maybe: “There are three very good posts on etiquette by James Oakley, John Smith and Bob Small.
Just a little plea!
PS: For reference, see the document XHTML.com on the tag and the sample page on muhlenberg.edu. One reason they both highlight is accessibility for people who need help navigating the web via speech readers and suchlike.
Add new comment