Comments on: Structure In An Unstructured World http://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/ Living in a state of accord. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:58:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Asbjørn Ulsberg http://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/#comment-107888 Asbjørn Ulsberg Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:23:30 +0000 https://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/#comment-107888 The "quick shortcut" could perhaps be to either press CTRL+ENTER while inside the link with the cursor, so the link doesn't automatically expand if you just move the cursor in the text for other purposes. The same shortcut can be made available through hovering the link with the mouse, then displaying an "edit" icon just in the top left or right corner of the link that can be clicked to expand it. But yea, these things take a lot of trial and error to get right, and that's why it's so important to not being afraid of trying new and exotic stuff, to see where the user comprehension boundry lies and whether the users are equipped with the same opinions and software prejudice as yourself. The “quick shortcut” could perhaps be to either press CTRL+ENTER while inside the link with the cursor, so the link doesn’t automatically expand if you just move the cursor in the text for other purposes. The same shortcut can be made available through hovering the link with the mouse, then displaying an “edit” icon just in the top left or right corner of the link that can be clicked to expand it.

But yea, these things take a lot of trial and error to get right, and that’s why it’s so important to not being afraid of trying new and exotic stuff, to see where the user comprehension boundry lies and whether the users are equipped with the same opinions and software prejudice as yourself.

]]> By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/#comment-107777 Adrian Sutton Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:50:19 +0000 https://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/#comment-107777 Asbjørn, Interesting idea, I'll have to play with it and see how it works. I suspect it will be confusing if you're intending to move past the link with the arrow keys but there may be ways to get it to work right. The other alternative is to provide a quick shortcut to expand it back out for editing - safe, but not as cool. :) That's the biggest problem with this kind of thing - it takes a lot of thinking and trial and error to get it to work. If it's not perfect it gets in the way and annoys everyone. Asbjørn,
Interesting idea, I’ll have to play with it and see how it works. I suspect it will be confusing if you’re intending to move past the link with the arrow keys but there may be ways to get it to work right. The other alternative is to provide a quick shortcut to expand it back out for editing - safe, but not as cool. :)

That’s the biggest problem with this kind of thing - it takes a lot of thinking and trial and error to get it to work. If it’s not perfect it gets in the way and annoys everyone.

]]> By: Asbjørn Ulsberg http://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/#comment-107626 Asbjørn Ulsberg Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:05:09 +0000 https://www.symphonious.net/2007/08/28/structure-in-an-unstructured-world/#comment-107626 How about when you enter the converted hyperlink with your cursor, it "opens up" to its previous plain-text wiki syntax form, and then you can press enter or something to convert it back to a hyperlink? Anyway, I agree with you that this is the way of the future and also what seems to be most in harmony with WWW and HTML. A part of why WWW and HTML has catched on is because everything isn't rigidly stashed in a static system, but rather interacts in a fluid, dynamic and loosely coupled way. I think structure and metadata has to do the same with natural language, and I think what you describe is a good solution. I expect a lot of development in this area over the next years. How about when you enter the converted hyperlink with your cursor, it “opens up” to its previous plain-text wiki syntax form, and then you can press enter or something to convert it back to a hyperlink? Anyway, I agree with you that this is the way of the future and also what seems to be most in harmony with WWW and HTML.

A part of why WWW and HTML has catched on is because everything isn’t rigidly stashed in a static system, but rather interacts in a fluid, dynamic and loosely coupled way. I think structure and metadata has to do the same with natural language, and I think what you describe is a good solution. I expect a lot of development in this area over the next years.

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