- Scott Jenson <scott@jensondesign.com>
I would hope that when brainstorming on these solutions we all won't
immediately jump into Java or XML. While I exploring these technologies
are is very useful, I also want to temper any high end solutions with a
discussion of what options exist for the HTML 3.2 crowd.
-
- 1) Printing a simple report.
- It is the intention of HTML to
not be a page description language so I'm not posing a problem of
font control or specifying page breaks. My issue is the difficultly
in separating the navigational control from the information content
of a web page. How do you get the user to a "clean" content only page
that can be printed but getting them "back" without forcing them to use the back button?
- 2) Navigating more than 2 tier hierarchies
- There are a few clever ways to have a global navigation
bar handle a 2 tier hierarchies of pages (Think of folders
with documents) Some involve Java but there are some very
effective HTML/gif approaches. However, I have yet to see
something which handles 3 tiers well. The default solution
is to use the outline view popular with most site directories
which then jumps you to the target page. The problem with this
approach is that you "warp" to another "navigation space",
replacing it with a "content space." The user needs to construct
a new control model when they arrive to a) figure out where
they are and b) how to return. The problem might be more
generally stated as getting the user down a structured hierarchy
with loosing "Navigation flow". They should always know where
they are and how to return. To focus this example, imagine
navigating a document system that contains folders within folders.
Most documents are at the 3rd level but some are at the second.
How would you present this in such a way that the user can find
and read documents keeping in mind the issues stated previously?
- 3) Tabbed Card display
- There are limitations to "Tabbed dialog boxes" used in W95.
However, they can organize information well if used carefully.
In my case, I had was displaying the result of a query. The data
record was quite large and I didn't want it to scroll off the bottom
of the screen forcing the user to "dig" for the proper fields.
Having a tabbed display would keep all of the information on one screen,
clearly label the groupings, and allow the user easy navigation to all
of the data. My solution was very limited, I would like a similar
"grouping" mechanism for the web (it certainly doesn't need to emulate
the tabs of W95)
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