The New Left. No, wait...

August 31, 2007 1:45 PM

Small inconsistency. On members' posts/comments pages, < newer / older>> point opposite to all the regular pages, which are < older / newer>>. Not terribly annoying, but easy to fix, no?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium to Bugs at 1:45 PM (15 comments total)

Yeah, that'd probably make sense.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:06 PM on August 31, 2007

Some of these little things don't register on a conscious level; they just give some of us the nagging feeling we're lysdexic.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:15 PM on August 31, 2007

The weirdest thing about it is that, while I assocatiate the older/newer navigation as kind of directionless—at most a loose sense that "old" is "down" as if the page had continued scrolling—I have a very strong association with userpage navigation as moving to the right. Items 51-100 are definitely over there ---> from 1-50.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:23 PM on August 31, 2007

For most people in Western culture the past is left, likely from an association with reading and writing. Think of a timeline--the future is yet unwritten. The "you are here" arrow moves to the right.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:52 PM on August 31, 2007

< older | newer> makes more sense to me for the reason that w-g p listed. Left is past, right is future.
posted by quin at 4:08 PM on August 31, 2007

Another minor glitch: lists of posts by tag combination (e.g. posts tagged with poetry and literature) have links saying "Go to the detail view for this tag", instead of "Go to this post".
posted by Aloysius Bear at 4:17 PM on August 31, 2007

Left is past, right is future.

And you wonder why you haven't discovered time travel yet. Enjoy your awakening, when it comes.

(And what are up and down? IF YOU CANNOT ANSWER THIS QUESTION THEN YOU ARE EDUCATED STUPID.)
posted by Eideteker at 7:08 PM on August 31, 2007

The subject of the back and forth arrows, I've often thought it would be nice to have a quicker way to jump back 4 or 5 pages.

With the volume of material scrolling past the front page(s) these days, I often find myself wanting to check something, or show one of my friends a link I know is a few pages back, so rather than clicking older 4 or 5 times I think a few numbers between the arrows, like search engines have, could be helpful.

Anyway, just an idea, it is more probable I simply lack some navigation skill.
posted by phoque at 7:18 PM on August 31, 2007

eBay's search has a "Go to Page:" box. You can insert page numbers to quickly find the $24.99 Picassos.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:36 PM on August 31, 2007

I've thought more about my idea and am now fiercely against it. I actually don't want anything added, and will learn to use the archive more.

An insertion box ... something I favour firmly.
posted by phoque at 8:02 PM on August 31, 2007

A page insertion ... a Foley favourite.
posted by phoque at 8:12 PM on August 31, 2007

The subject of the back and forth arrows, I've often thought it would be nice to have a quicker way to jump back 4 or 5 pages.

I just edit the url when I want to do nav jumps in page-at-a-time contexts (userpages esp.); if I want to time-travel on the front page of one of the subsites, I'll usually click into the archives. You can skim a month pretty quick.

And what are up

yours!

and down?

The enemy gate, natch.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 PM on August 31, 2007

But further on the nav thing specifically regarding user pages: I recall someone suggesting a goo o o o o o o oogle type number-page nav widget for that, which I think is a decent idea and maybe something worth poking Matt about. Because url editing is dandy and all, but hey.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:45 PM on August 31, 2007

BEA A A A A A A A A A A A ANS
posted by blasdelf at 2:10 AM on September 1, 2007

Thanks for the url hint cortex.

Poking of Matt ... I'll leave to you, the dual and wholesome lovin' ;)
posted by phoque at 8:57 AM on September 1, 2007