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Conference vaxuum::online_bookbuilding

Title:	Online Bookbuilding
Notice:	This conference is write-locked: see note 1.3.
Moderator:	VAXUUM::UTT

Created:	Fri Aug 12 1988
Last Modified:	Mon Jul 15 1991
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	440
Total number of notes:	2134

282.0. "hot spots versus keys/boxes" by MUNLEG::GOETZ (Ulrike Goetz, UI Specialist LEG Munich, Germany) Fri Feb 23 1990 06:05


	Hi there,

	we are having a problem with the Bookreader
	hot spots.
       
	According to our conventions for documentation,
	we are coding keys with the tag <key>(...), which
	then appear with a rectangular surrounding - just
	like the hot spots.

	The same is true for push buttons (with text).
	We are coding them with the tag <box>(...), with
	the same result as described above.

	This is, however, very irritating and possibly
	frustrating for the users. I suppose, they will try
	to klick on keys and push buttons. Does anybody else have
	the same problem (especially with the tag <key>?
	What can we do? Any proposals?  	

	According to our software specialists, it is not
	possible to change the appearance of hot spots
	to inverse.

	Thanks for any support,

	Ulrike

T.R Title User Personal
Name Date Lines

282.1 I see your point, but... CLOSET::UTT Fri Feb 23 1990 07:42 25

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
282.1	I see your point, but...	CLOSET::UTT		`Fri Feb 23 1990 07:42`	25
	Ulrike, This is the first time I have heard this complaint but I see your point. It seems to me that at first glance it might be confusing to see things in boxes that are not hot, but that the textual context would provide a pretty good clue: there is a big difference between 'Figure 1-1' and 'CTRL/X'. The ability to turn hotspots on and off also makes it clear what is hot and what is not (if the item remains boxed when hotspots are turned off, it's not hot). You are correct: it's not possible to change the hotspots. It is possible to change the width of the rule used for <box> and <key> and, although I'm not sure that a narrower or wider rule would look good, we could look into this. Does anyone else find this a problem and/or have any suggestion for effectively differentiating between <box>es and hotspots? (Bearing in mind that some solutions, such as shading boxes or reversing hotspots would require a fair amount of development time, and that other solutions, such as drawing keys and pushbuttons with RAGS, would require a fair amount of writer/artist time.) Thanks, Mary

    Ulrike,
    
    This is the first time I have heard this complaint but I see your
    point. It seems to me that at first glance it might be confusing
    to see things in boxes that are not hot, but that the textual
    context would provide a pretty good clue: there is a big difference
    between 'Figure 1-1' and 'CTRL/X'. The ability to turn hotspots on
    and off also makes it clear what is hot and what is not (if the
    item remains boxed when hotspots are turned off, it's not hot).
    
    You are correct: it's not possible to change the hotspots. It *is*
    possible to change the width of the rule used for <box> and <key> and,
    although I'm not sure that a narrower or wider rule would look good, we
    could look into this.
    
    Does anyone else find this a problem and/or have any suggestion for
    effectively differentiating between <box>es and hotspots? (Bearing
    in mind that some solutions, such as shading boxes or reversing
    hotspots would require a fair amount of development time, and that
    other solutions, such as drawing keys and pushbuttons with RAGS,
    would require a fair amount of writer/artist time.)
    
    Thanks,
    
    Mary