rcjordan - 3:56 pm on Feb 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, pjean.

Be forwarned, I've only had 20 oz of coffee so far --gears don't begin to mesh until well into the 2nd mug.

My first usability concern involves "scanning and scrolling." I operate under the assumption that the user is doing the first and hates the later. If he's there for the reasons I think he's there for, he's going to click the first option he happens to connect with. But, he's scanning, nor has he really grasped the site layout fully. Also, there's a danger that he's either partially tuned-out some of the design elements or -worse- misinterpreted them and mentally written them off as not being what he wants. So, the footer nav is a sort of usability error-trapping; he's there because I couldn't entice him into action earlier on the page.

>wouldn't it be just as usable to provide site navigation in one consistent space throughout the site

Basically, my concerns are (A) he missed it and (B) having missed it, he's too lazy to go back and look for it.