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

[Jack Moffett]

On Aug 2, 2006, at 10:52 AM, Dan Saffer wrote:
> This doesn't seem to be an issue with Netflix or Flickr notes or
> Yahoo News. Obviously, you might want a half-second delay before the
> opening of the new windows, and you might want a wide margin around
> the scroll bar on the left and have the text be large enough so
> individual words can be targets.

I agree, but again, these are usually relatively short. In Steve's  
case, the "notes" are often longer than the content being referred  
to. This particular application reminds me of David Small's Talmud  
project (http://www.davidsmall.com/talmud.html). The reader will  
likely be spending more time reading the notes than the main text.  
You shouldn't require the mouse to stay in position to read that  
amount of text (especially considering, as we've recently discovered,  
that some users always return their cursors to a particular area of  
the screen ;).

Jack


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


First, recognize that the ‘right’ requirements
are in principle unknowable by users, customers
and designers at the start.

Devise the design process, and the formal
agreement between designers and customers and users,
to be sensitive to what is learnt by any of the
parties as the design evolves.

                                        - J.C. Jones