A history of navigation affordances

It’s easy to see how well a book functions and think that function is inevitable. 1 1 Good IA feels inevitable and obvious, it lacks the frission of friction that feels like innovation. In that way that information tends to work, the information architecture of the book even functions beyond its intended scope: Books are having a moment as fashion accessories, being sent down runways in the hands of models in 2023. That signification is only possible because books gained standardized covers in the 1820s, something they didn’t have for the previous 1500 years of the book:

• Pages (300s)
• Chapters (500s)
• Spaces between words (900s)
• Capital letters (900s)
• Tables of contents (1100s)
• Cookbooks (1300s)
• Titles (1400s)
• Punctuation (1400s)
• Page numbers (1510)
• Alphabetization (1500s)
• Index (1500s)
• Title page (1520)
• Silent reading (1600s)
• Footnotes (1600s)
• Covers (1820)

• Standardized citations (1920s)

• Menus (1984)
• Page titles (1991)
• Link directory pages (1991)
• Headings (1991)
• Links (1991)
• URLs (1994)
• Keywords (1995)
• Persistent navigation (1995)
• Breadcrumbs (1995)
• Sitemaps (1996)
• Distinct “zones” to a web page (1996)
• Hamburger menu (2009)
• Mega menu (2009)

Idea: Class activity could be to put these in order

References

Mina Le. (2024, February 14). Booktok & the hotgirlification of reading. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxDd8ocpcHk