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

[Fredrik Matheson]

First of all, what's the goal of the web app? Is the goal to distribute
critical editions in a new way, handle them in a new way (read, work with,
etc) or both?

So far we've got these two alternatives:

Alternative A:

   1. A visual cue points to what items in the text have notes
   2. The user can toggle these cues on and off to allow reading vs.
   close reading (one might even have a variety of "filters" applied for
   different views on the text)
   3. Clicking on the link in the text opens a small box with space for x
   number of lines. If the footnote is longer than this, a "read more" link is
   inserted. Clicking on that link reveals the full footnote in some form, for
   example in a large floating box that covers the page (and can be moved
   around so you can look at the original text at the same time).

Alternative B:

   1. The "page" has two panes: one for the text and one for the notes
   2. A visual cue points to what items in the text have notes
   3. The user can toggle these cues on and off to allow reading vs.
   close reading (one might even have a variety of "filters" applied for
   different views on the text)
   4. Clicking on a piece of text reveals the related note in the note
   pane

Each alternative has its merits. Build a simple prototype and test it - and
let us know which works best.

- Fredrik