Re: More compact display for inherited properties and methods in DOM object pages

I like the navigation design of MDN and (to a lesser) extent MSDN, where the properties and methods are listed in a left side bar. by far the MDN documentation is easier to navigate than MSDN.



The WPO rhs sidebar within the MAIN content area is forcing unusable white space below it.. both the table and link cloud property/method listings still leave a large area to the rhs below the WPO sidebar unusable.

I prefer the tag cloud solution to the table solution.

It could be possible be improved by including a title attribute which holds the Property/Method description, so that the description of each property/method appears when the pointer ‘hovers’ over the link.

Regards.

From: Amelia Bellamy-Royds 
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 10:38 AM
To: List WebPlatform public 
Cc: Renoir Boulanger 
Subject: More compact display for inherited properties and methods in DOM object pages

Feedback needed!   

Working through the QA review of DOM pages, I was finding that the endless, near-identical tables of inherited properties/methods/events distracted from the main content of the page.  You have to scroll down quite a ways to reach examples and compatibility.

I've come up with a more compact template and have got some sample pages in the test wiki.  I'd appreciate feedback before rolling this out on the main wiki.  

I've got three pages in the test wiki set up to use that template, with different amounts of content.  Please don't edit these pages using the forms, as it will over-write the custom template call.
  a.. http://docs.webplatform.org/test/dom/HTMLTableCellElement

  b.. http://docs.webplatform.org/test/dom/HTMLTableElement

  c.. http://docs.webplatform.org/test/dom/HTMLElement

Compare with how the same pages currently look on the main wiki:

  a.. http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/dom/HTMLTableCellElement

  b.. http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/dom/HTMLTableElement

  c.. http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/dom/HTMLElement
Ignore differences in which pages show up as links and the fact that most don't have summaries in the test wiki; the focus is on the layout.

  a.. Is the compact display too compact?  In-between options, such as a multi-column bulleted list, are also possible.

  b.. Does the organization make sense (grouping by methods/properties/events instead of grouping by the interface they are inherited from)?  

  c.. Should there be different number of results before the results lists gets truncated with "More.."? 
  d.. Is the "More..." link obvious enough, or does it need stronger formatting? (see the HTMLElement page)  The default table has this link in a table footer, but I don't think that can be done with the custom templates, since it is always added *after* the footer template. 
  e.. Any other concerns / suggestions / aspects you find confusing?
The new template, for those interested in such things, is at http://docs.webplatform.org/test/Template:API_Object_new

P.S.  Thanks to Renoir for rolling back his single-sign-on test so that I could use the test wiki.  

Amelia BR