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HomeGuidelines > 3. Cook up hot links. > 3d. Provide depth and breadth through plentiful links within your site. > Challenges

 

Diagram

Background

Examples

Audience Fit

Challenges

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Challenges

(a)

1. Create a FAQ starting with a menu of questions that link to sections below.

2. Each section should contain a question, followed, in a separate paragraph, with a sentence or two of information, as the answer.

In this report, we answer a number of questions about ISDN service. We explain how ISDN works to bring you faster Internet access, ranging from real 56K or 64K service up to 128K. Installation has traditionally been tricky and complicated, but now that the local phone company has some competition in this area, we have seen the process become a lot smoother for most customers. You’ll need equipment resembling your current modem, and you must have relatively new wiring in the building; at the same time, the ISDN provider must have a switching office within three miles of your home or office. Rates for the connection vary by provider. Because ISDN dramatically increases the throughput for their servers, most vendors charge a premium rate, which varies depending on the actual speed you decide on, and the number of hours per month. Benefits include fast loading of graphics, animation, and video; almost instantaneous loading of pages with a lot of text; and a decrease in the amount of time you must stay on line, to get the same amount of work done.

Answer


 

Other ways to make links hot

3a. Make clear what the user will get from the link.

3b. Within a sentence, make the link the emphatic element.

3c. Shift focus from the links or linked-to documents to the subject.

3e. Establish credibility by offering outbound links.

 

(b)

Identify possible links to other pages at NASA. Rewrite at will, introducing Returns and lists.

NASA will launch two rovers to Mars in May and June. But where should they land? Scientists and engineers are working hard at picking the right landing sites. They are studying images and data from two other NASA spacecraft currently orbiting the red planet — Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey.

The NASA teams are looking out for a number of things. One thing they are looking out for, ironically, is rocks.
Since the rovers do not have the luxury of landing on a well-paved runway, JPL geologists and engineers must
carefully choose an area without large rocks that could damage the rovers’ airbag landing system. Wind is another consideration. Winds in the lower atmosphere are also an important consideration, as are the slopes the airbag-clad lander could collide with, or climb. Sunlight, too, matters to the rovers. Adequate exposure to the sun is vital for the solar-powered rovers. The mission is looking for water, and clues to Mars’ early climate, when conditions may have been wetter.

So NASA is considering three sites that show evidence for surface processes involving water: Terra Meridiani, known as the Hematite site, Gusev, and Isidis. Or the rovers might go to an area called Elysium. This site appears to contain ancient terrain, which may hold clues to Mars’ early climate when conditions may have been wetter.

The final decision will be made by NASA in April, shortly before the rovers begin their journey to Mars.

Answer

3f. Make meta information public.

3g. Write URLs that humans can read.

3h. Make links accessible.

3i. Tell people about a media object before they download.

3j. Announce the new with special links.

3k. Write meta-tags to have your pages found.

Resources on writing links

Taking a Position on Links

Heuristic Online Text (HOT) Evaluation for Links

Poster

 

                                                Answer

 

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