Finland ministry of social affairs and health : Breaking down the year

A simple piece of internal page navigation upgrades usability significantly.

The Site

Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has separate archive sections on its website for News items and Publications, which includes sub-sections for reports and information brochures. Each can be filtered by month as well as year.

Archives open on an index page with the titles for the current year displayed in the main content area. Two horizontal lines of internal navigation head the page: first, links for each year from 2003 to 2006; and below this, links for months of the year. When a year is selected, only months for which there is content are shown. So, for example, choosing ‘2005’ in Brochures creates the list January, March, September, October, December. Clicking on a month from this list filters the index to leave only entries for that month showing.

The Takeaway

With a simple piece of internal page navigation the ministry has upgraded the usability of its archives significantly.

While organising and presenting archived material in annualised lists is common practice, many sites leave it at that, confronting users with a list of material for the whole year. Although such lists are invariably ordered chronologically, you still have no alternative but to scroll them diligently looking for release or publication dates. The ministry’s addition of a filter by month breaks the year into more search-friendly fragments, especially as the available options are tailored so that only months for which there is material are included.

First published on 13 June, 2006