OVERVIEW
Of course every website uses various techniques to display both their controls and their content. In fact, for most websites it is both given and taken for granted. But at
The numerous display techniques discussed in
Please use the problem link found at the bottom of most pages to advise us of any difficulties. The correspondence page that will appear automatically knows the name and location of the page you clicked from, so you can focus on explaining the problem.
Text-Decoration & Stylistic
Functionality
* underline plane (not colored) to stress, or accent as in verbal communication to indicate emphasis, eg., as we have just done.
* underline colored to indicate a hyperlink, eg., click it to see.
* italics to indicate words that need to be interpreted and replaced in your mind with their meaning based on your understanding of the context, eg., mission.
* bold to indicate words that should be or are used exactly as typed and spelled, eg., aedok.com. generally this extends to include capitalization or lack of capitalization, however we do take literary license and sometimes boldize those things which may be upper or lower case, eg., PrimitiveFrontier.aedok.com and primitivefrontier.aedok.com
Beg SubTopic: Functionality: Important, Caution & Optional
If an item being discussed or touched upon has an aspect of importance, criticality or necessity, or should be approached with caution, or is optional, then it is appropriate to mark that item, but not necessarily cause it to stand out dramatically. On the other hand, if the naration itself is dealing with these aspects, then it is appropriate, even convenient, to have such items stand out, so that by sharp contrast one can easily train his eye opon first one, then another.
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* black text with pink background in block like red text when a larger block of text is required, because a large block in this fashon is easier to read.
* black text with pink background in block and box like red text when a very large block of text is required, because the box holds it together.
* We would use yellow text for caution, but yellow text is very difficult to read, so ...
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* black text with yellow background in block like would-be-yellow text when a larger block of text is required, because a large block in this fashon is easier to read.
* black text with yellow background in block and box like would-be-yellow text when a very large block of text is required, because the box holds it together.
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* black text with green background in block like green text when a larger block of text is required, because a large block in this fashon is easier to read.
* black text with green background in block and box like green text when a very large block of text is required, because the box holds it together.
Functionality
The criteria for determining whether or not the page appears in the main window or in
Discussion
Small diversions, notes, and commentary conveniently fit in
Throughout the age of the Internet, many features have been implemented in a manor most inconveniently and further, a manor intuitively contrary to optimum usage, almost as a sly way to brag about how smart the programmers were. For example, when popup windows acquired scrolling capability, little ten(10) line windows would pup up where the rational maximum entries would be twelve(12) anyway. Like the time of day for a 12 hr alarm, where one has to scroll to get to 11 !
The only possible rationale for such a technique would be either 1) stupidity, not realizing that a 10 line box with scrollbar for 12 items is ridiculous; 2) laziness, not wanting to take the time to check; or 3) arrogance, thinking their ego is more important than your time.
Whereas at AEDOK we too are proud, and indeed feign no false modesty, the characteristics of stupidity, lazinessness, and arrogance are not virtues. Popup windows are most useful, but we abhor all manor of in-your-face presentations without some certain purpose.
Window Focus
Functionality
Upon entering
Discussion
The focused window is said to be "on top". The focused window receives all of your keyboard activity, i.e., your key strokes, the keys you type. Whereas, mouse and or touch pad activity goes where ever the mouse or touch pad is pointing.
Technique
When a window is focused, one can use the cursor keys to control scrolling without the need to use either the mouse or the touch pad. This can be used to great advantage if one employs the following technique which utilizes both mouse/touchpad AND the cursor keys as follows:
* If you use a mouse, learn to use your left hand. Many right handed people already use their left hand on the touch pad anyway.
* With your left hand resting upon and controling the mouse/touchpad, rest your right hand upon the keyboard with fingers resting upon the cursor control keys.
* By so doing, initially, your right hand can easily scroll up/dn and left/right the largest window because we have put that window in focus so the cursor control keys affect that window.
* Now, when you click a link from any window, your mouse/touchpad is poitioned somewhere within that window and automatically causes window focus, by virtue of that click not mouseover to that window. But, as pointed out in the functionality paragraph above, we focus to the window receiving the content you selected. So,
* You can now,
* Meanwhile, the mouse/touchpad pointer is still hovering above what is presumed to be your main area of interest.
* As soon as you are done reading the information in the window you are scrolling with your right hand, containing the content that you selected by a click/mouseover, with your left hand, you simply move
* Again, the mouse/touchpad pointer is still hovering above that area of interest. So, all you need do is click not on a hyperlink, and focus is set back to that page which you can then once again easily scroll up/dn and left/right with your right hand.
* This is all accomplished with very little physical movement.
Page Themes
Functionality
At
Discussion
The theme of a page is yet another subtle layer of communication. Many websites use plain white. Often they are elegant. Others use color beyond imagination, and they can be inviting. We attempt to inject this layer of communication into the presentation with intent that the user gain a better sense of context and his location, so to speak, or perhaps more precisely, the location to which he has arrived.
These themes shall change from time to time as we attempt to improve upon this technique, and over time, there may be an unlimited number of them, so we shall not attempt to enumerate or show them here. But when the resultant page that appears has a theme different from the theme of the page containing the link you clicked, you be certain the content has changed in some manor. Whereas, if it is the same theme, then it is a continuation, extension, or addition, of the content you have been viewing.
Grouped Pages
Functionality
At
Discussion
Sometimes it is easy to add functionality, but also sometimes that easily added functionality has slightly to dramatic drawbacks which possibly because it was so easy to add, or possibly because the author (programmer) was so pround of his cleverness, are never addressed. Thus they (the drawbacks) linger, giving rise to the suspicion that the author never actually used his own creations.
Naturally, in complex systems there are going to be difficulties forseen and unforseen, yet at
Now it seems ever since the mankind discovered the technique of centering, be it titles, functionalities, or small pop up windows centered and full of nested centering, he co-incidentally abandoned the utility of fixed locational functionality.
In other words, the Buttons move around, causing inconvenience, all for the sake of pretty, centered, imagrey.
Consider the simple functionality of going to the next page, the previous, or to a specific page, thus:
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next
It looks good. But at the web site there are going to be more than one group of such pages so the second group may loook like this:
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Notice that the location of Next has moved. If these groups are interrelated say with hyperlinks, then one has just a slight amound of additional effort to find the Next.
Whereas if one rearrange the functionality this problem is elliminated, thus:
Prev Next 1 2 3 4 5
Prev Next 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Referring back now to the slightly inconvenient tehnique, when one adds functionality to navigate between the groups, it becomes really inconvenient because one might want to go: NextG, NextG, NextG, thus:
PrevG Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next NextG
PrevG Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next NextG
PrevG Prev 1 2 Next NextG
As shown, if one were in a hurry, and who isn't from time to time, after clicking on the first NextG, he might click on 9 or 10 the second time, and ofcourse not noticing he had done so, could become confused and lost.
Nothing we are discussing here is critical. It is convenience. When one adds up a bunch of small conveniences, one gains a smoothness of operation. A more pleseant experience. When one adds up a bunch of small inconveniences, one gains a sence of chaos. An undesirable experience.
The above problem is rectified thus:
PrevG NextG Prev Next 1 2 3 4 5
PrevG NextG Prev Next 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
PrevG NextG Prev Next 1 2
Though one might still have to scroll he can use ctrl-end with the right hand to jump to bottom, and then without moving the mouse, click next (etc). Further, with time and creativity, that too can be overcome, perhaps with the multi button mouse, which mankind thinks he is advancing beyond by disposing of it in favor of the touch screen, because children (even middle aged) like to touch. As though it is more convenient to lift your arm over your desktop and jab a one-quarter square inch portion of a screen, with, as above, functionality constantly moving around! Rediculous.
The current functionality of the Navigation Controls follows.
<< Go to the first page of previous group.
>> Go to the first page of next group.
Prev Go to the previous page of this group, only when not on page 1.
Pr<< Go to the last page of previous group, only when on page 1.
Next Go to the next page of this group, only when not on last page.
Ne>> Go to the first page of next group, only when on last page.
pageNum Go to the specific page of this group.
Tree-Structured Pages
Functionality
At
Discussion
The tree structure controls will be found in the header or footer of the page, i.e., at the top, in very small print or at the bottom.
Current function are:
UP which takes you up a level, which is not the same as back.
For example, if you were examining Plant Life, went to down a level to Trees, went down a level to Pine, then went over on the same level to Oak, then up would take you to Trees, not to Pine.
Top which takes you to the top of the page.
These functions are in addition to the common header controls and footer controls.