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Sites that rely exclusively on a single form of anchor schema can quickly shape a reader's expectations and lower the reader's learning curve to navigate within the site.  

Downplay the anchors

The relative simplicity of a single anchor scheme allows authors to concentrate on other aspects of the work. Whitney Museum of American Art's Idea Line [67], while it has three views, has a single anchor scheme.

This relative simplicity in the anchor allows readers more confidence to traverse the timelines and uncover the clusters of artworks.

Him's [9] single anchor scheme allows the simple anchors fade into the background as merely a way to trigger new content.

Reinforce the main message

What We Will [66]also uses a single anchor scheme that carries the main structure of the work. We travel through a single day in a life, and the only way to do so is through the space and time provided by the anchor.


Screenshot used by permission.

Create uniform expectations

A single graphic anchor scheme can create a uniform expectation for the work: 25 Ways to Close a Photograph [41] presents its materials through face anchors to get behind faces, where Him [9] 's five buttons let the reader quickly grasp the work's structural pattern, and The Jew's Daughter [45] sets up a reading strategy which merges acteme and episode with the single anchor. Diagrams Series 5 [57] always uses the same format: mouse over the layered anchors to reveal them.

Subvert the interaction

Yet the limits of a single scheme can also be subverted: both Same Day Test [25] and Joe's Heartbeat in Budapest [49] use a single limited structure to highlight the anchor's content and force the reader's attention on the mode of interaction: a choice of action or a frustrating conversation, respectively.

If the navigation scheme is not clear, however, a single scheme can backfire: While Charmin' Cleary [16] relies on one navigation structure as each text chunk forms an hidden anchor, readers can make incorrect assumptions about where anchors may lead [115].