I agree with this point. It would also be good to have 'parent' links
on these sub-pages.
I note that the same problem occurs if you select the 'Brief' option on
the menu.
[Q: will the 'customize view' be something one can select on startup
(e.g. by a ?string in the URL)? - I am not sure how useful the different
versions are if you have to decide to go to brief (for example) by an
extra mouse click. If I like that
style it would good for me to bookmark the style.]
(More points below)
Dearlove, Christopher (UK) wrote:
I asked a colleague who is not involved in the IETF for a
comment, to see how it passed test 1 below. His first
reaction was positive. But then we noticed a problem.
He's running Firefox with noscript. He gets a simplified
version of the left hand bar - no subentries. And there
is no indication to him he was missing links, and even
when he, say, clicks on About the IETF, the page below
doesn't have substitutes for the missing Mission,
Standards Process and Note Well links (which I think
it should - I haven't checked the other similar cases).
He, and I, don't see any reason why this should be script
generated - or if the alternative views is seen as so
important (I'm not sure why) why the noscript version
doesn't show all information.
Additional points:
NOMCOM: Only appears on the Home 'at a glance list' and not in the
menus - A set of 'other bodies' menu links would probably be useful
with Nomcom, iaoc, rfc ed, tools team, edu team (etc)
Various things irritated me about the left hand menu:
- The style is very inconsistent between pages at present.. maybe this
will be fixed in due course (e.g. data tracker pages have a different
menu style and colour, tools site is different, wikis are different).
IESG pages are not all the same.
- The change of style for the 'advanced' menu seems rather gratuitous at
present (I don't see anything new in the way of access methods etc. ).
I am unclear that four choices is really essential.
- Using Firefox v3.0.11 the aesthetics of the display of the menu are
rather horrid in some cases (I think this is to do with first visits to
a page) - The menu first displays with some large blocks with the upper
level titles in white on larger deep blue boxes (if I can hold the flash
in my mind correctly) before redisplaying in its final form. This is
unpleasing.
- Is it deliberate that the top level links don't change colour after
you have visited them whereas subsidiary and on-page links do? I don't
know that colour change is really useful for the menu.. but actually I
found the menu more pleasing and helpful with the 'visited' colour
scheme (i.e. top level links in dark blue, sublevel links in red/brown).
Overall: The main page had a terribly cluttered feel to it. I would
prefer more white space and the logo writ large. Provide the 'At a
glance' page as a site map on a separate page - after all it mostly (but
of course not quite) just duplicates the menu at the moment.
The direct links to the RFC Editor site don't fit in very well because
of the different style.. yes they are useful but psychologically they
should be clearly distiguished by being in an external link category (or
have their style brought into line).- the relationship between IETF and
RFC Editor makes this all a bit strange. And there is no menu to help
you get back.. I believe you could display the RFC Editor site pages
with the left menu still in place (Don't know the details but it is
faniliar from shopping sites etc)
Similarly the direct displays of RFCs etc lose the menu so you can't
navigate back other than by browser back button - not perhaps so much of
a problem for say the RFC repository (although I would often find it
useful). However, some pages take you to a display of an RFC by other
routes (e.g the WG chairs page, MIB Review Guideleines displays RFC
4181). One solution for the repository would be a 'display in a
separate tab/window' button as well the straight 'Go' (I can't right
click to specify new tab/window).
There is still a learning exercise to be done when using the site: The
menus do not contain all of the links that appear on the various 'at a
glance' pages. That means there are (slightly) hidden things Maybe
hanging all the 'at a glance' pages together into a directory/site map
(maybe with next/previous links) would make it clearer to be able to
run through ALL the options when you believe there is something there
but *just can't find it* (like when I was trying to track down the
nomcom link just now).
Regards,
Elwyn
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