Regular visitors to Poynter.org have probably become familiar with the site's Quicklink identifiers: story-specific alphanumeric codes that when entered take users directly to the desired item.

It's a simple system and not particularly revolutionary -- really just a search-based version of the permalink archiving strategy.

In fact, my initial reaction to Poynter's Quicklink system was largely negative. If one is getting information from an online source and has to save a copy of something to recall the article, is it not easier to click-through to the archived version and save the URL than to save a code and have to search it on return? And I still intuitively (and "incorrectly") click on "Quicklink" -- the only hyperlinked word in front of me. Unfortunately, this brings up only an explanation of the Quicklink system.

Then it struck me. The real brilliance in such a system is in its potential to eliminate confusion for users who are not originally getting their information online.

Every publication that cross-promotes between print and online products (e.g. "Go to ournewspaper.com for more photos...") is a good candidate for the addition of such functionality to its site. Constant identifiers could also work well for audio/visual-based services such as radio and television, however these formats would have to overcome the additional challenge of making unique identifiers which are simple enough to remember in very limited airtime.

Pushing users to the Web with the promise of more information is a great strategy and one that often provides a valuable service to users -- if they can find the information, that is. Large news sites, in particular, are notorious for inundating visitors with so much information that trying to find a specific story is next to impossible for a less-than-savvy user and not always so easy for regulars. Constant identifiers offer a terrific solution: Users need only type in the code. And for this purpose, it's better than a keyword search because it brings up only one result – the correct one (well, barring human error).

Like anything, the method is not fail-proof. If a user isn't going to look up the information straight away, he/she must remember the code or at least not lose it. The likelihood of this should be reduced somewhat by using a simple and logical naming syntax that will make identifiers easier for users to remember or possibly even reconstruct (for instance a date-plus-section-location or date-plus-keyword identifier).

Getting back to Poynter.org, the big problem with its system is in its application: The Quicklink search box is located (read: hidden) at the very bottom of the page and the Quicklink code returns no results when entered into the general site search box at the top of the page. If the search functions cannot be incorporated immediately, the search boxes should at least be juxtaposed for the sake of clarity.

And for all of the URL collectors out there, the Quicklink alphanumeric code itself should be hyperlinked to the appropriate archived item... otherwise I'll be back there tomorrow, clicking on "Quicklink" and muttering to myself about short-term memory and how long I'm going to continue clicking it day after day...

Feb. 9, 2003