Representing Online Textbooks? 23
BWJones asks: "How does one represent online texts to best convey information to the reader as there are a number of issues related to online textbook reading and interpretation that are quite different from reading a standard textbook. We have a site dedicated to retinal vision education that went online a number of years ago and is due for a major rewrite/re-creation. This site was one of the original online textbooks and its design attempted to be of use in the early graphical navigation of the web. However, as the content has increased and will continue to do so, navigation has become more cumbersome. I am looking for suggestions to increase its usability while content increases and will entertain all ideas. I am loathe however, to make the browsing requirements too steep as there are folks from all over the world who access this site (about 30k/hits per day) and they do not always have the latest in computer technology."
ugh (Score:5, Funny)
Tip #2: Hire a information architecture/usability/UI specialist or team. Worth the money, especially if you have tons of content.
Disclaimer: Yes, I'm a UI specialist.
I would offer (lots) more advice, but it's lunchtime and I'm friggin' hungry. Sorry.
Re:ugh (Score:3, Interesting)
This was the first thing that that is going away during the redesign. And I should mention, if I recall correctly, this sites origins go back to 1993 and it went online in shortly thereafter.
Tip #2: Hire a information architecture/usability/UI specialist or team. Worth the money, especially if you have tons of content.
Well, here's the issue there, I am
Re:ugh (Score:2)
A good selection of examples in my area (biotechnology and related disciplines) can be seen here [nih.gov] at PubMed [nih.gov], one of my favourite reference sites. Some of these are very expensive standard texts, and I have a
Some quick criticisms (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, the table of contents looks like a sea of text. Make the chapter headings much, much larger than the section titles. You already did a good job with the "part" demarcations. This lets the reader see the material in a more hierarchal manner.
You might want to try page-by-section rather than page-by-chapter, and keep the sections short enough so the browser window needn't be scrolled. Powerpoint presentations follow the same rule. (Maybe, leave page-by-chapter as an option if the text is used for reference instead of initial exposure).
Leave references until the end of a part or until the end of the book -- they are not as critical in a textbook as they are in a paper.
Maybe forcibly use larger fonts -- not all users will be savvy enough to increase the size of their default fonts.
Your site is a little annoying with the big fat headline graphics and the blinking.
Re:Some quick criticisms (Score:2)
So you'd rather alienate those who do know how to increase their default font size.
Perhaps increase the font size, but allow the user's preferences to override them. CSS allows for this.
Also, make use of the <link> tag in page headers, to link to the index, table of contents, and previous/next pages. Some browsers, such as Mozilla, give access to these links in a navigation toolbar.
Bookmarks and glosses (Score:2, Interesting)
Add the ability to create an account. Logged in users get a personalized view of the material which they can add bookmarks to as well as a sidebar with their additional notes.
Re:Bookmarks and glosses (Score:1)
In fact, one reason
interactive highlighting (Score:2)
"online textbook" is practically an oxymoron (Score:3, Insightful)
I would recommend you use this little invention called hypertext to build an in-depth document. One way to arrange this would be to have a summary of a few pages, or even a few paragraphs, and then allow people to click on terms and be able to explore them in depth.
One website that's used this methodology with good results is Chilling Effects [chillingeffects.org]. I suggest you do a little exploring there.
Okay, serious reply... (Score:3, Informative)
2) Personally I like the idea of a navigation bar on the side that reminds the reader where they are in the text, like the Outline view in Acrobat Reader (but don't use PDF! [useit.com])or the way Google Groups shows threads.
3) Don't do things that break printing. If people need to print out a section, it should print properly. I can't tell you how many times I curse at web page designers when I print out a page to refer to later and the text flows off the right edge of the page!
4) Keep blocks of text small; I am of the opinion that scrolling through large blocks of text on-screen is mentally tiring and turns readers off. By the same token, don't do things that slow page loading down for dialup users!
5) If you include figures or pictures, use inlined thumbnails that load quickly, but are also links to full-sized (and printable?) images. Wrap text around the images in a way that is eye-pleasing and makes sense. Excess white space looks as unprofessional as too little.
6) Avoid flashy things that add nothing to the information you're trying to convey.
7) Read anything written on the subject by Jakob Nielson [useit.com].
Re:Okay, serious reply... (Score:1)
It is okay to do things that break printing so long as you provide a version that is completely printer friendly as well. It is sometimes difficult to have a document that is 100% printer friendly as the main document, but it is a nice option to have
And for my number one pet peeve of all time, do not ever use animated gifs. It is the most annoying piece of "eye candy" there is.
One problem th
Re: Don't use PDF (Score:2)
I quote:
Get help from your colleagues (Score:2, Insightful)
BTW, Nielsen's usability ideas are geared for e-commerce; take them with a grain of salt, since tha
Some comments. (Score:2, Informative)
- It's my understanding that sans-serif fonts (i.e. Arial, Verdana) are easier to read on screen than serif fonts (like the one you are currently using). The reverse is true for printed matter.
- The full text of the caption doesn't need to be a link. That's almost unreadable at the font size on blue background, with the underlining increasing interference.
- Having your sub-contents for each chapter in a blob of text makes it har
Re:Some comments. (Score:1)
I agree with your comments, however the website uses the browser's default fonts. In this case the font choice is up to the user. Of course it is a good idea to specify san-serif in the stylesheet for the online version and serif for the printable version.
ps
Don't forget to bear in mind the accessibility guidel
Re:Some comments. (Score:2)
A few thoughts (Score:4, Informative)
Heavy linking and SVG (Score:1)
The thing that frustrates me most about online information sources that were converted from print is that they usually have the TOC and maybe footnotes linked and everything else is just plain text. Every topic/field specific word and/or phrase should be linked in a ideal world so the closer you can get the better. I think the best scenario would be to get a definition for a word/phrase in the status bar (or tooltip popup if you want to go more dhtml heavy) and then clicking would take one to the relevant
very last post, I win again! (Score:1)