> I have modified the greaterdot (Ceiling/Max ) vocabulary description > page with my idea of graphical help symbols. > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Vocabulary/greaterthan. (note the > ending period)
I know you like coloured symbols, Skip. So do I. But there are issues with them. At the risk of boring non-specialists can I skate briefly over some? BTW It's not my intention to tell you your idea is absurd. It isn't absurd, it's ingenious and intriguing, and may well have its place in Voc. Coloured graphic symbols (call them icons) mixed with text have been massively researched ever since VDUs able to show them came commonly available early 1980s, with e.g. the IBM 3279 color display unit. Much of the civilian research was done in the IBM Hursley Human Factors Laboratory (my old place-of-work). Before that it was the armed forces for cockpit displays, missile radars, air traffic control, etc, etc. But most of this research is never consulted by documenters opting to use them. Icons powerfully support the task of looking at a page you've never seen before and breaking it down into structure. Just glance at Skip's: http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Vocabulary/greaterthan./ [...needs that final slash, Skip!] In less than 1 second, without reading a word, you can see all instances of the use of (!) and infer how it is used on the page. But... Maybe you don't infer correctly how it's meant. :) 1st-time novices are not reassured when they see symbols they don't know the exact meaning of. (I.e. they get alarmed.) But this feeling of alarm quickly goes away, so quickly that the documenters themselves may never be aware of it. A red "(!)" is not altogether devoid of significance, even if you've never seen that actual icon before. Red has hard-wired significance for squids. It seems to in people too. Several authoritative HF guidelines recommend red should only be used to signal serious error conditions. Around 10% of the population have red-green colour-defective vision. Many aren't aware of it, until they are tested for it. Icons are decoded by the right-hemisphere. Written text is decoded by the left-hemisphere. Thanks to the optic chiasmus (=crossover) this means icons are best placed to the left of text, ie to fall within the left field of vision. But there again a sizeable % of the population have brains structured differently. The extent is unknown. (Brain research has hardly caught up with "normal" people :) There is a correlation with left-handedness, but this is not =1. On the topic of non-standard brain structure, some people are synaesthetic (...and don't know it). An innocent looking icon can actually stink. The upshot is... Icons act powerfully to structure a dense page of text. Good examples of their use: the "Dummies" guides. But that's their only reliable function. Their effects are so powerful but complex they are best avoided. If you can't avoid 'em (...don't ask why), always augment them with a non-varying written explanation. A label. (Note that Skip has a hover "hint" attached to each icon. But it says something different each time.) Don't use colour in new icons. (Doesn't apply if you have screened your readers for colour-defective vision, e.g. they are all fighter pilots.) Don't invent new icons. Only use familiar ones, in a familiar context, e.g. like the Visa / Mastercard symbols. Familiar means "familiar to your audience". Example: the little "safe to cross the road" man is not reliably identified outside North America. Another example: if all your readers can be relied on to have read at least one "Dummies" guide, then the "Dummies" icons are safe to use. But use them exactly as the guides do. If you can't escape inventing new icons, always test them with novice subjects using a well-designed questionnaire. (Just because you've never seen an icon before doesn't mean it's going to be meaningless to you.) Always put the icon to the left of written text (e.g. the explanation). But don't depend on it suiting everyone. If you have a captive audience, conditioned to lengthy training, then you can even expect them to learn Kanji. But if you're writing for brand new but discretionary readers (i.e. not a captive audience), then icons in text have Big, Big Issues. But... Icons are appealing and fun. Especially if coloured. Mediaeval scribes knew it. Moving icons are even more fun. And 3D is coming... Icons impart a sense of mystery and hidden meaning, very attractive to younger readers, but all ages can benefit. If you can eliminate their unwanted effects (...difficult!) use them to spice-up boring text. The mobile phone companies know it. ;-) ... I'm being serious about this. (That's why I'm commissioning drawings, a-la the Leo Brodie/ Starting FORTH book.) Ian On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 5:00 PM, Skip Cave <s...@caveconsulting.com> wrote: > I think that there are more improvements we can make to the vocabulary > page templates, though I don't think that should hold up authoring more > content. At the worst, we can hand-edit the pages with the final > template design when we get it the way we want it. > > I have modified the greaterdot (Ceiling/Max ) vocabulary description > page with my idea of graphical help symbols. > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Vocabulary/greaterthan. (note the > ending period) > > I had the following rationale for this modification: > > 1) The Monadic and Dyadic specification should be right where those > definitions start, instead of in a "blue box" in the corner. It makes > the meaning much clearer IMHO. What the reader needs to know should > always be in-line in the text, so they run right into it (or stumble > right over it, as the case may be) as they read. > > 2) The exclamation point graphic points up a "this is important to know" > concept. such as valence. We will need a key note, likely on the first > page, that explains to the novice that the exclaim graphic indicates an > important concept that they should explore before going too much further. > > 3) I discovered that moin moin graphics can have "alternate text" which > pops up when you hover the mouse over the graphic. That's a perfect > place to put hints and brief help text for the novice, without intruding > on the more experienced users. Try it out on the exclaim graphic on the > >. page, and see what you think. > > 4) The words Monadic and Dyadic are still hyperlinked to the Valence > description/tutorial pages, so if the pop-up hint isn't enough, they can > take the link to the detailed description/tutorial. This may allow us > to shrink the size of the "blue box" in the corner to just specifying > Parts of Speech and Rank.. > > I would really like to have had both the hyperlinked text > (Monadic/Dyadic) and the exclaim graphic to have the pop-up text, but I > haven't found how to do that as yet. Similarly, I would like the graphic > to hyperlink to the valence pages just like the hyperlinked text but > again, I haven't discovered the moin moin code for that either. Finally, > I would also liked to have the whole hyperlinked text and the graphic > just to the left of the "Ceiling" and "Larger of (Max)" titles, but moin > moin doesn't seem to allow that. > > Skip Cave > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
