LL-L "Technica" 2005.08.18 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 18.AUG.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Interspecies communication" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Interspecies communication
>
> Sandy, I love the layout of _The Story of Vallteacher_!

CSS certainly produces excellent results when used properly! In this case 
the page is designed so that everything is in its "box" (or "div" in the 
HTML source), and boxes are packed correctly within other boxes, right up to 
one big box holding eveything.

In this case, each paragraph is in a box and each set of notes for a 
paragraph is in a box, and each paragraph and its notes are in one box, and 
these boxes are all together (along which boxes holding graphics) in another 
big box, which is lumped into a box with the title... But the important 
thing for this layout is that each paragraph and its notes are in two boxes 
withing a box of their own, so that the notes always stay with the correct 
paragraph.

This sort of design is very pleasing to do and gets excellent results - I'd 
advise giving each type of box a different light backgound colour and a 
border in a darker shade of the colour in the CSS so that you can see what's 
going on during development. Then when it's all working, replace them with 
the correct colours.

I'd like to add notes and glossaries to the Scotstext texts. Still debating 
whether this sort of layout is best or tooltips. The trouble with tooltips 
is that the user has to _do_ something to get at the information. Is the 
resultant interactivity a good thing or just unnecessary effort for the 
user?

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Technica

Thanks, Sandy.

I think the margin note solution lends itself to displaying "dialect" texts, 
i.e., texts in varieties related to the one the reader knows (including, for 
instance, Middle English texts in the case of English).  These are texts for 
which relatively few glosses and notes are necessary.  Where a lot of 
glosses must be provided, I think one of those "rest your cursor on a word" 
solutions is better. There are those that make a small box pop up (like the 
ones I've been using), and then there are those that make a gloss appear in 
a separate window.

E.g.:
http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=tokpisin
http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=english-m-verse2-roman

I can't find an example of the separate-window solution right now.  I've 
seen it used in several pages dedicated to indigenous American languages.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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