[IxDA Discuss] UI design for digital books with extensive footnotes

[Jack Moffett]

On Aug 2, 2006, at 9:49 AM, Dan Saffer wrote:

> ...but you could also
> consider having onMouseOver actions that open floating windows that
> contain the footnote, doing an XmlHttpRequest to get the footnote
> itself.

> You might also have a control that turns the hover
> display off as well.

Actually, this wouldn't be a good use of mouseOver, as you would  
likely accidentally open a lot of floating windows just by moving  
your mouse across the page. This would also suggest that they would  
close automatically when the mouse leaves the area, which would  
easily be done accidentally while the user is trying to read the  
footnote. In this case, it would be better to display the floating  
windows when a reference is clicked, and have a close button on the  
window. This would also  negate the need to provide a control that  
turns the feature on and off.

I would postulate that the amount of text to be displayed in the  
floating window has a direct correlation to which mechanism is used  
for showing and hiding the window. If the text is shorter, as a  
tooltip, the hover method is more acceptable, as the text may be read  
quickly and the size of the window can be smaller, relieving  
annoyance at accidental openings. More text requires a longer reading  
time, providing more opportunity for accidental closure. More text  
also means a larger window, covering more of the main content, which  
would result in more annoyance at accidental openings.



Jack L. Moffett
Interaction Designer
inmedius
412.690.2360 x219
http://www.inmedius.com

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