[Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity

Wed Jul 25 19:44:43 BST 2012

If you go down the two separate types of navigation approach then you would
not necessarily  implement the mix of historic and linear next button.

What you are suggesting is that if history.length = 0, then go next, else
go forward?

What I am suggesting is that if you have a historic back button then it
makes sense to offer a historic next button so that the navigation remains
within a single paradigm. The idea of providing a linear element to the
next button, only when the user has no legitimate historic next value, is
really to accommodate the difference between Xerte and a web page. Web
pages have links in them to enable you to exit them. Standard Xerte pages
do not.

If people are going to use the Connector pages they will need the historic
back button. The type of project an author will want to be selecting will
be one that does NOT offer a menu of all the pages. The author is unlikely
to want to provide the end user with a means of bypassing the routes
through the learning object that the author creates by using the Connector
pages. Giving them access to a menu of all the pages will do just that.

I’m finding it hard to get straight in my head (whether your suggestion
provides a simple, predictable navigation system), and that tells me
something is wrong:

Then it is my description that is at fault. The simplest way to describe
the navigation I am proposing is that it works just like Internet Explorer
or Opera, with the additional feature, if deemed appropriate, that in
situations where IE or Opera would show the next button disabled, then in
Xerte the next button could remain enabled by offering a link to the next
page in the project's linear sequence.

The hard part is describing the specific details and rules that apply that
enable the creation of such a navigation system. In use it is intuitive -
it is just the way a web browser works.

The current combination we have in Xerte of a historic back button and a
purely linear next button is what is likely to throw people.

We need the author to be able to implement as a minimum, the current
historic back button navigation without also implementing a project wide
menu. Better would be to also have a historic next button, so that the
historic navigation would be consistent.

Kind regards

Johnathan

On 25 July 2012 16:38, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:

> I think the problem is as you say, the mix between a historical back
> button and a linear next button. The two (strong) mental models people will
> bring are the digital book (linear, prev and fwd); or the browser (back in
> history, forward in history); we are kinda mixing them up. In a browser you
> navigate with links; here we are navigating with the fwd button.
>
>
>
> What I’ve done is put the navigation back to the old way for linear
> projects; either of the menu options give the back (in history)
> functionality. Next always goes to the next page.
>
>
>
> What you are suggesting is that if history.length = 0, then go next, else
> go forward? I think we are screwing with people’s mental models here? I’m
> finding it hard to get straight in my head (whether your suggestion
> provides a simple, predictable navigation system), and that tells me
> something is wrong: this shouldn’t need explaining, we will be doing
> something wrong if anyone ever asks a question about the navigation system.
>
>
>
> Hmm.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 25 July 2012 16:29
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> Hi folks,
>
>
>
> I'm sorry that it has taken me a while to respond to this thread, I have
> been otherwise engaged for most of yesterday and today and before I could
> respond adequately I needed to check a few things.
>
>
>
> The standard Xerte project has to date been treated as if you are reading
> a book. No history just turn to the previous or next page relative to the
> one you are currently viewing. When you use the TOC you are just opening
> the book at a new page. Back and Next are then relative to that new page.
>
> The Connector pages introduced a different paradigm for the project. This
> paradigm required a historical back button. As an example consider a
> multiple choice connector page. Each of the answer options can link to a
> sequence of none connector pages, i.e. If the connector page is P1 then
> option 1 may go to P2 which leads to P3 to P4 and P5 is a redirector page
> to P10
> option 2 may go to P6 which leads to P7 to P8 and P9 is a redirector page
> to P10
>
> The historical back is needed to ensure that if you traverse backward from
> P8 to P7 to P6 that the next backward action does not take you to P5 but to
> P1.
>
> This inevitably clashes with the book paradigm when you use the TOC which
> is what Julian found. It will inevitably feel a little strange to Xerte
> users who are used to the book paradigm. However it does mirror the way a
> back button works in a web browser, so in a sense it will be what will be
> expected by anyone opening a Xerte project for the first time.
>
> However browser users will be confused by the Xerte next button, as
> browsers that offer a next button base their next on the browser history.
> Such browsers (IE, Opera) appear to operate by building a history and
> maintaining a pointer as the history is navigated. Whenever a link is
> followed (rather than a back or next button) the "next" half of the history
> is deleted, so that on page exit the current page is added as the most
> recent page in the history.
>
>
>
> If there are to be on offer in Xerte a choice between the original
> navigation or historic navigation then the historic navigation would be
> improved if it also was reflected in the operation of the next button.
>
>
>
> I have performed some tests in opera to figure out what is going on and
> have attached a pdf file to explain everything. The pdf file opens with a
> worked example  of how a historic navigation that accommodated a back and
> next button would operate. The last page identifies the rules that would be
> required in Xerte to implement such a navigation in the xerte navigation.
>
>
>
> I hope this helps. The example can take a little effort to get your head
> around, but the actions that need to happen with respect to each button
> are, I think pretty straight forward to implement for someone who knows
> there way around the appropriate Xerte flash file.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan.
>
>
>
> On 25 July 2012 10:41, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> I’ve done that, need to play around with it and see if it feels better.
> Opinions welcome.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 25 July 2012 09:29
>
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> OK. I think I’m going to put the default back to the way it was, and add a
> method to the interface calss to allow the developer to chose: that way it
> can be linear for linear navigation, and use the history if navigation is
> menu.
>
>
>
> Does this sound sensible?
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Fay Cross
> *Sent:* 25 July 2012 08:27
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> I only realised it did the back to previous page viewed rather than
> numerical back when doing the testing a couple of weeks ago so I did find
> it a bit odd. I think it’s because I thought of the LO pages to be like
> pages in a book rather than web pages so history back was unexpected.
>
>
>
> So at the moment does a linear layout have numerical forward and back and
> menu layout have history back and numerical forward?  If the linear one has
> history back I do think this could confuse users when they’ve changed page
> using table of contents.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 24 July 2012 11:35
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> Ah, but then back would have taken me just one page back, and I could go
> one page forward again…
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Ron Mitchell
> *Sent:* 24 July 2012 11:29
> *To:* 'For Xerte technical developers'
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> But you weren't able to do that previously either?
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 24 July 2012 11:16
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> Has it felt right to you whilst testing? Mostly it does feel OK, but the
> time it gribble me out is when I use the TOC to jump to a page, hit back
> (go back to page one) and then can’t easily (without re-opening the TOC)
> get back to the page I was just on (cos there’s no ‘forward’). It somehow
> doesn’t feel quite right
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [
> mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>]
> *On Behalf Of *Ron Mitchell
> *Sent:* 24 July 2012 11:08
> *To:* 'For Xerte technical developers'
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> I think it's fine the way it is now with back being history back and next
> being next numeric page but if you've found inconsistencies with the
> history back perhaps it would be better to revert back to what it's always
> been. Not sure about author control wouldn't that lead to confusion where
> sometimes it's history and sometimes it's linear?
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [
> mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>]
> *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 24 July 2012 10:49
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Back / Next Functionlaity
>
>
>
> What do you think: we made the back button in the interface go back in
> history, rather than back in pages: this seems to work well in some
> situations, but whilst testing, I have hit back several times and not gone
> where I expected to, and can’t go forward: do you think we should have it
> so that the developer can chose which way it works?
>
>
>
> So, for a linear interface, it works as it did before, going back and
> forth on page numbers; if it’s a menu driven piece, it goes back in history?
>
>
>
> I think the problem I found in terms of inconsistencies is that forward
> always takes you next, rather than forward in history when back goes back
> in history rather than pages (read that again carefully).
>
>
>
> Next can’t be forward, as it’s the main way of getting to the next,
> unvisited page.
>
>
>
> This should do what the user expects because it grates when you don’t go
> where you wanted.
>
>
>
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