Overview
Links, tabs, menus, buttons, tree nodes, etc., are historical examples of UI chrome navigation.
Data that appears in tables rows, list views, social media streams, etc., that are linked to a destination are contemporary examples of UI content navigation.
Examples include:
- Touching a dashboard content container
- Touching an image within the content container
- Touching the white space of a row within a list view
- Touching a single bar in a bar chart
Both navigation types will appear within an Oracle Alta application. However, use UI content navigation much more frequently as users prefer to touch content not chrome – especially with mobile clients – to navigate content.
Bias Towards Content Navigation
Historically, screen real estate is a premium on a mobile device. Additionally, immediacy is paramount. Meaning, giving the often broader context (e.g., traveling, waiting in line, in a meeting) in which a user accesses content on a mobile device, the immediate presentation of the content of interest is primary. Users do not want limited screen real estate consumed by chrome (e.g., tabs, menus, buttons) or the need to negotiate chrome components to get to desired content. Content is king on a mobile device.
Content navigation follows logically and almost effortlessly within an Oracle Alta UI designed to present content as king. For example, consider a dashboard. A dashboard is often a rectilinear layout of content containers from one or more applications.
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The dashboard is a primary page type for presenting desired content
immediately. Immediacy is best served when a dashboard is presented as a
high level UI destination. That is, it appears at the top of a
navigation hierarchy. Rich with content and sitting at the top of the
navigation hierarchy, UI content navigation flows naturally from the UI.
Although chrome components supporting navigation (e.g., Application Navigation Bar) may also present themselves, the strong bias is UI content navigation as illustrated below.
When tapped by the user (examples highlighted within red dashed boxes), content containers within the dashboard serve as navigation vectors to more detailed content. The dashboard of the Work Better Application is an example of this form of navigation. However, as demonstrated by the Work Better Application and illustrated below, UI content navigation applies beyond dashboards to nearly every page of an Oracle Alta application.
Click image to enlarge
All of the pages accessed from the dashboard, also provide UI content navigation. For example, tapping on a item within a list navigates to more detail on that item. The resulting page, in turn, also has a heavy bias towards UI content navigation – as expected and desired by the user.
Summary
There are two categories of navigation : UI chrome and UI content.
However, users prefer to touch content not chrome – especially with
mobile clients – to navigate content. Design for content first. When the
UI design presents content as king, UI content navigation can flow
logically and effortlessly through the pages.