The preferred way to display multiple anchors?

[Freyr]

I have a dilemma that has always troubled me, no matter in which way I look at it: displaying static anchors on a page, maybe with a sub-title or description with it.

I have gathered some information and made a vote to see which method you would prefer, or which method you are currently using.
I will also explain briefly what each of these consists of and how they could be used. Please take note that this is limited my perception only.

CSS styled TABLE
This is the most logical choice, since it has been around for a long time.
This method involves creating a 4x4 - or any other size - table structure and positioning lists of each anchor into a table cell, most commonly by category.
One would then apply some CSS specification to it, and let it "pop" out somehow.

The let down of this is, that even at best I've seen this technique used; appropriate structure, image for each anchor a with sub-title, and a background image for the certain table-cell; it's quite messy in terms of UX, even though it's quite practical.

Images
This would be the simplest one of them all, apart from the graphical work involved in this.
It involves creating an image for each category of anchors, and leading it to a sub-section of more images(or anchors).
While this method is visually stimulating, it's lengthy and takes up the most resources of all these methods.

An animation effect
I've seem this done with Flash, Javascript and even Java(why I don't know).
This is similar to the Images method, but it's more focused and animates the content of the specific anchors.
While this can still be relevant to this subject in terms of UX and design, it's a costly addition that would be made, and for the sake of this thread being about BBGs ian assumption can be made that this is standard HTML driven games.
Thus, this would over power the whole layout and the rest of the game, unless this method of displaying content is used throughout the entire game.

Let downs are: time consumption to actually create this, the resources(if Flash is used) and the diversity.

Story based
This is more in the lines of going back to the early '90s's MUDs, where mostly everything is plain-text story based.
This could be a paragraph of words telling the user what each anchor possesses(being MUD-like) and where it will take them(or help them better themselves) in a mythical short-story.

The practical uses of this in Web 2.0 is less than likely, but if it fits in within a game it can very well be used in proper context.
The main let down of this method would be that the story has to be dynamic, and the audience will have to be willing(and interested enough) to read through all the text; because if they aren't, they won't be interested.
In a popularity contest, this method won't win - but in terms of resources being used, and time consumption: this would win.

CSS styled UL list
This also comes in with the same aspects of a TABLE, but differs is some ways.
UL lists are often used because of the variety of uses it has: even though most commonly used as a navigation menu.
I haven't seen this method used much in games, except for Company/Legal pages or menus.
I would suspect that you also style it to contain an image relating to the anchor.

The cons: the UX wouldn't be sufficient with large quantities of anchors.


So that sums it up, through a view of my perception.
Why I'm asking this question in the first place, is because I need a unique way of displaying "Places" on a "Town" page.
With the administration panel, I will be using the same type-of layout Windows uses for it's control panel(believe it or not), with categories that leads one to specific tasks. This method isn't viable for the "Town" page as it's too lengthy and may be misleading for certain people.

Thank you,
F.

[Nox]

What do you mean by anchor? I know #anchor and < a>anchor text< /a>, but this doesn't seem like it

[DV8]

I'm a little confused, too. We'll need more contextual information, I think.

[andrewjbaker]

I think we're talking header navigation...

Edit: And for what it's worth, I'm using CSS styled <ul> for FF's header navigation.

[Freyr]

Indeed, links. Sorry for the misleading information, I've been getting a lot of that since using the word "anchors".
I'll try to explain my scenario a little bit better:

A game I am creating has a lot of pages(files), and not all of them can be mentioned within the navigation menu/side bar.
These will be things like the common player list, markets, special sections like property/marriage/teams and more stuff along those lines. 
I find that my current method is too... how you would say: common. I'm looking for new ways of displaying these... links.

Here's a sample representation of what I mean, and what I am currently using(simple version):


Hope that helps make it a bit more clear.
 

[BlackScorp]

What does "Sample x" and "Link x" stands for? and i would use a dropdown javascript/css list instead of whole overview

[Freyr]

They are just place holders to better explain my scenario, but, they would normally be along the lines of:

Code: [Select]

Markets     | Players
----------------------
Auctions    | List
Guns Shop   | Rankings
Potions     | Online
etc...

What does "Sample x" and "Link x" stands for? and i would use a dropdown javascript/css list instead of whole overview

Thanks for the input,

That would be a good idea, but again, it could potentially clog up the menu's. The UX wouldn't be so great for players:
Nav -> Click -> Page -> Hover -> Search through multiple navs -> Click -> Destination 

Otherwise, how would you then suggest displaying those? Displaying categories in the same manner, or how?

[BlackScorp]

so i would make DropDown list or Tabs

http://cccpmik.wmw.cc/layout/

[BlackScorp]

i would think about the navigation and your links.. for example:


Markets     | Players
----------------------
Auctions    | List
Guns Shop   | Rankings
Potions     | Online
etc...

Instead of Different Markets i would make one market and sort there items depends on type "Weapons","Armors","Potions" etc

Instead of Player->list i would make a Link to Rankings and display there all players, what rank and if they are online.

i would try to manage the views and what do i display to reduce the amount of links

[Freyr]

Tabs is something I haven't thought of yet, so it may work.

so i would make DropDown list or Tabs

http://cccpmik.wmw.cc/layout/

This would definitely lessen the time it takes the player to get on a specific page. But, it would in turn increase the time the player spends on the page searching for a specific object.
What I think I could use from your suggestion, is to maybe use tabs to rather group a category of anchors. And migrate smaller pages into a single file.
This is also going to have limitation though; like online players and ranks would be able displayed in the same result. It wouldn't show results relative enough to the parameters the player was expecting to find.

i would think about the navigation and your links.. for example:


Markets     | Players
----------------------
Auctions    | List
Guns Shop   | Rankings
Potions     | Online
etc...

Instead of Different Markets i would make one market and sort there items depends on type "Weapons","Armors","Potions" etc

Instead of Player->list i would make a Link to Rankings and display there all players, what rank and if they are online.

i would try to manage the views and what do i display to reduce the amount of links