Same appearance = same behavior

Conclusion

If entities have the same appearance, then they should have they same behavior. The navigation for MedBanner includes a “Quick Tour”. Unfortunately, the words “Quick Tour” look like a link when they are not a link. I think the designer should either change the appearance of the words or change the behavior (make it a link).

The context is the key

None of the 11 navigation links have the normal appearance of a link. The designer did not underline them, make them blue, or make them obvious buttons (they are not text). After the user figures out that they are links, the user will expect all of them to be links. Since the Quick Tour entity has the same appearance as the other entities in this context, the user will expect the same behavior as the other entities in the context.

Solution 1: Change the appearance

The fastest solution is to change the appearance of the Quick Tour entity enough that it does not look like it will behave as the other entities around it do. I modified the entity to be the same color as the word “Med” in their logo.

As you can see, the entity does not look like it will behave exactly like the other 11 entities near it. But, it also retains the ability to impart meaning to the four entities directly beneath it. In other words, the user will still understand that the entities numbered 1-4 are part of the Quick Tour.

Solution 2: Change the behavior

I think that the designer here could have the entity link directly to the What is the Medbanner Network? page. The Quick Tour itself is ordered, and it makes sense to start the user at the first page.

The alternative is to create an introduction page for the quick tour. This does not seem necessary, as the designer has kept the entire Quick Tour concise.

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