Re: Tablin now online

Thanks greg, if you're willing to edit the HTML and send it back to
me, I'll have it installed instead of the current front page.


> aloha, daniel!
> 
> congratulations on getting Tablin online!
> 
> i have a few comments about the form located at:
> http://jigsaw.w3.org:8000/tablin
> 
> 1. there is nothing in the introductory verbiage that indicates that there 
> is anything more to the FORM than the URL input field and the submit 
> mechanism...  this potentially poses problems for anyone not visually 
> processing the form, as there is a flight-or-fight level instinct amongst 
> serial navigators to activate the SUBMIT mechanism when it is 
> encountered...  while i understand _why_ you want to have the submit 
> mechanism immediately following the URL input field (so as to make Tablin 
> as easy to use as possible, and not force users to review the entire form, 
> it does mean that there may be a significant portion of Tablin's target 
> audience who won't know about the tailorization options available to them, 
> unless they are explicitly informed that they exist...  therefore, i would 
> suggest adding something along the lines of
> 
> In order to facilitate quick linearization, a SUBMIT button appears 
> immediately after the URL input field.  Selecting SUBMIT after you enter an 
> URL causes Tablin to run in default mode. You can change Tablin's settings 
> by bypassing the SUBMIT button. There are 7 additional groupings of controls.
> 
> 2. i would make the phrase "default mode" a hyperlink that links to a 
> listing of Tablin's default settings, as there are many -- if not more -- 
> individuals who would rather follow a help link _before_ attempting to 
> navigate a FORM, than to obtain information _by_ navigating a FORM
> 
> 3. because of the placement of the SUBMIT mechanism, one must backtrack 
> (manually, if you are using a screen reader) to the SUBMIT button in order 
> to activate it (yes, i know that most GUI browsers support SUBMIT-on-ENTER, 
> but (a) the UAAG features a checkpoint that allows the user to suppress 
> this functionality/bug, and (b) most text-based browsers (which also happen 
> to be TABLE incapable browsers) do not support SUBMIT-on-ENTER _unless_ one 
> has the cursor placed on the SUBMIT mechanism (or if one is using Lynx with 
> FORM control numbering support, in which case one could enter the number 
> associated with the SUBMIT mechanism to submit the form's content)
> 
> my fear is that the lack of information about the tailorability of the 
> Tablin FORM and the inconvenience of having to backtrack back to the SUBMIT 
> button (during which there is a very real chance that an inexperienced user 
> could inadvertently change a setting) will have the unfortunate effect of 
> turning off a large segment of the target population for whom Tablin was 
> developed
> 
> 4. since the DTD declared for the document is HTML 4.0, why not utilize the 
> semantic labelling features of that ML, such as LABEL, FIELDSET, and LEGEND?
> 
> 5. since i opened my big mouth, first to pat you on the back and then to 
> beat you over the head, i am preparing a proposed mockup which incorporates 
> the comments and suggestions i enumerated here, as well as a few others 
> that i have yet to articulate...
> 
> gregory.
> --------------------------------------------------------
> He that lives on Hope, dies farting
>       -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
>     WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
>          <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
> --------------------------------------------------------

Received on Thursday, 16 March 2000 06:55:17 UTC