Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
What I mean is that readers (the human kind) should be expecting key elements in ebooks to be active (as links or whatever), underlined or not. And, of course, ebook creators should make them active.
If I'm reading an ebook, I certainly expect items in a TOC to be links to their appropriate sections, as well as anything that looks like a footnote, and even mentions to other parts of the book (references to chapters, equations, tables, or, why not, just "later on" and "above"). I will try to "click" on them and will be disappointed if they do nothing.
In my opinion, there's often no need to know where every possible link is. It's just enough if, whenever the users wants a link to be there, it is, and it works.
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Jellby:
I don't disagree that those of us who "live" in the ebook world--whether we're makers, designers, or just voracious readers--come to expect and look for and use those elements we think "should be" links. But we're not the usual consumers. I mean...I can't tell you the emails I get that don't know that footnotes get linked, or how to use them, or how to get "back" to where they were. Or...seriously, you just don't know. The questions I get, even from authors who have Kindles or Nooks or what-have-you...they don't expect to see or find links anywhere. You're imputing a level of expectation and user-sophistication that's common here, on MR, but not in the consumer world.
I think that, for the time being, not underlining any type of link is an error. I can certainly see not doing it on the TOC, for aesthetic reasons, but anywhere else? Particularly if we're talking about glossary items, etc.? Just my opinion, which is worth what you're paying for it, but a dreadful mistake, until the rest of the world catches up to the level of MR.
Hitch