We are building a web app in Silverlight and currently have more than one way to navigate to the same functionality. I.e. there is more than one button/link on the page that does exactly the same thing, only located in a different place. Is this good or bad?
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2 Answers
You might find this thread useful: Feature Exposure vs. UI bloating
Flexibility is good. Confusing duplication is bad :).
You normally wouldn't put two items in the same menu that lead to the same place. But you would have a menu link to the "Contact Us" page, as well as button on the homepage that says "Contact Us" and leads to the same page.
If the supposed redundancy serves a valid purpose, then there's nothing wrong with it. What's the reason in your case?
answered Mar 8, 2011 at 6:42
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In our case there is a tree-view like menu on the right (smallish links) and some larger tabs at the top, that would navigate to the same functionality. I reckon in this case it is "good" duplication. Commented Mar 8, 2011 at 7:06
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From your description it sounds that the tabs are the main navigation, and the tree-view is something like helpful secondary links, basically kind of a site map? They include all the tabs and many additional links as well? If so, I agree with you. But if they only contain the same links as the tabs, or just very few additional links, then I don't think it's justified. Commented Mar 8, 2011 at 7:23