Re: [Gzz] Re: Is xupdf reasonable?!

[Asko Soukka]

Mon, 27 Jan 2003, Matti Katila wrote:
> >> These are very good points, and we do need to address them before 
> >> the article deadline.
> >> 
> >> 1) The idea is that the user can also write short notes and link them.
> >>    This way, the link types should become more apparent. I'll be 
> >> implementing
> >>    this ASAP.
> >> 
> >> 2) At least my view of xupdf so far is that it's more for "personal" use,
> >>    so that you know the articles you're browsing.
> >
> > Forgot to make explicit the question: do you think this will be enough?
> 
> You have said that beginner and professional users should have the same ui
> and usability. To your 2) view of xupdf if someone sit to your chair and 
> starts browsing the articles with xupdf - he doesn't know what the link 
> means. Ok, talked with Asko about this and we can use different fillets 
> and colors something like here:
> 
> http://www.workpractice.com/trigg/thesis-chap4.html

My point is that there are dozens of different link types and if we start 
marking them somehow in xupdf we have to make big compromises: choosing 
what link types are enough to include, and what kind of graphical elements 
we add to present them. We have already used the "color coding" for 
papers' uniqueness. (should also remember 7+-2)

> Asko's second idea was that this is only talking about different views.

I couldn't get xupdf compiled, so I don't know how it have changed during 
last month. Anyway I would like to see it only as an applitude among many 
others and would like to keep it as simple and tidy as possible. If we 
can't show something like link-types in xupdf without making it visually 
bloated, we should make a new view/applitude for them.

IMHO it's better to have several easy-to-use views/applitudes which 
performs their job well (and changing between them is easy, because they 
use the same structure), than adding so many features that we have to 
make compromises for usability.  

Oh, not my ideas. D. Norman wrote in Invisible computer about 
information appliances. 

-- 
Asko Soukka     | Taitoniekantie 9 A 603 | address@hidden
+358-40-8235947 | FIN-40740 JYVÄSKYLÄ    | http://www.iki.fi/asko.soukka/