[Xerte-dev] Re: Connector Pages

Thu Apr 26 23:25:55 BST 2012

Hello Julian.

You've probably read my other post regarding "simple" v "intuitive".

Maybe we can include it in the distribution and link to it form the wizard

The document I attached is really intended as a tutorial and it covers
several pages. I hope people would find it useful, but I am not sure how
best to make it available to them.

What I would like to do is to create a help file in pdf format for each of
the new pages that has a standard format of giving a brief overview of the
page followed by a form by form, field by field guide to the page.

My hope is that it might be possible for someone to add a feature to the
xwd form that allows the author to open a pdf help file specified in the
xml that defines the xwd form.  I appreciate that it may not be technically
possible, or there may be other issues that make it either impractical or
 considered undesirable to do so. If pdf is deemed unsuitable I would be
open to suggestions. I just went for pdf as I can create them in Open
Office and I believe this feature has already been implemented with respect
to the use of the project help file.

Kind regards

Johnathan

On 26 April 2012 09:07, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>wrote:

> Great, thanks. Maybe we can include it in the distribution and link to it
> form the wizard – but I’m not sure how that works for all the different
> wizard scenarios… it needs to find a home somewhere that people can easily
> find it though, thanks Jonathan,
>
>
>
> *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 April 2012 19:21
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Connector Pages
>
>
>
> The attached guide is designed to take people through using the first four
> of the Connector pages. It is designed primarily as something to be worked
> through rather than a list of the options each form offers. It starts with
> the simpler pages and then builds from their.
>
>
>
> I will need to produce something separate for the Scenario, Hotspot, and
> Tabbed Navigator Connectors, but it need not repeat the information about
> connector pages as these other pages introduce nothing new to how
> connections work. The extra docs could focus on the bits that are specific
> to each page.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
> On 25 April 2012 13:04, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> that would begreat, thanks,
> ________________________________________
> From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Kemp Johnathan [
> johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com]
> Sent: 25 April 2012 10:04
> To: For Xerte technical developers
> Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: Connector Pages
>
>
> Can everyone play around with the connectors and can we have some debate
> about this please?
>
> I will be out this morning, but this afternoon I will put together a brief
> introduction to Connector pages. You can learn all you need to know about
> the use of Connector pages by becoming familiar with the Menu, Plain Text,
> MCQ and Redirector Connector pages. All the Connector pages essentially
> work the same way.
>
> The other three pages introduce nothing new with respect to their being
> Connector pages. What they add are features specific to themselves e.g. the
> different things the hotspots can be used for in the Hotspot Image
> Connector; how you can manage the variety of things that you can add to a
> tab in the Tab Navigator Connector; and with respect to the Scenario
> Connector the whole concept of what a Scenario is and how you can use
> scenes, props, conditions, actions and outcomes to develop sophisticated
> interactions with the learner.
>
> These latter three pages deserve separate coverage in their own right,
> once you have an understanding of Connector pages in general. It will take
> me a little longer to produce something to cover the items specific to
> these pages.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 24 April 2012 13:02, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk
> <mailto:Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>> wrote:
> Why have the author set ‘mode’? What’s the point of this, and if we need
> it can we not detect it? What happens if I forget to set it back? Couldn’t
> this be a global setting?
>
> With the connector pages, do we need to have the options for back / next
> buttons stuff on each page, or are there global / automatic settings we
> could make?
>
> It is a pain when buttons are turned off to quickly get to the page I want
> to get to – so If I add a new page, I can’t navigate to it to check it’s
> how I want it, because the buttons suddenly disappear.
>
> I can see the value in the connectors, but we need to make this easy.
>
> Seriously, when we built toolkits the mantra in the office was (honestly)
> ‘f*ckwit simple’. It meant that we created tools that create relatively
> simple content. But it means people can use it. That guiding principle has
> got us a long way, and means that people can easily create content – that
> is what people like about toolkits. We need to sanity check all the new
> features against that mantra. If it isn’t ‘f*ckwit simple’ it may belong in
> another tool.
>
> Even if people don’t use the more advanced features, seeing them, and
> realising they don’t know what to do with them undermines the simplicity
> and usability elsewhere – I think people should very quickly feel at home
> with all the functionality, and not feel that only a subset of it is
> appropriate for them: by implication those users feel, well, a bit like
> f*ckwits, and that’s not what we want to say. We want to say ‘this is easy’
> and we want people to think ’this is brilliant, I can do this’. There are
> other tools for more advanced users.
>
> What is display text? This is another one that we need to have a think
> about: I’m not sure what it does having just played around with it for a
> few minutes. If I don’t know what something does after playing around with
> it for a few minutes, neither will a great many other people. Remember the
> mantra.
>
> Can everyone play around with the connectors and can we have some debate
> about this please?
>
>
>
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