Gmail Calendar Documents Reader Web more »
Recently Visited Groups | Help | Sign in
Google Groups Home
Message from discussion Theory: text-blocks and separators
The group you are posting to is a Usenet group. Messages posted to this group will make your email address visible to anyone on the Internet.
Your reply message has not been sent.
Your post was successful
 
From:
To:
Cc:
Followup To:
Add Cc | Add Followup-to | Edit Subject
Subject:
Validation:
For verification purposes please type the characters you see in the picture below or the numbers you hear by clicking the accessibility icon. Listen and type the numbers you hear
 
Jorn Barger  
View profile  
 More options Jan 28 2001, 5:11 am
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors, alt.hypertext, comp.ai.doc-analysis.misc, alt.etext
From: j...@mcs.com (Jorn Barger)
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 04:11:02 -0600
Local: Sun, Jan 28 2001 5:11 am
Subject: Theory: text-blocks and separators
Probably, before the XML-crowd can outgrow their fanatic loyalty to
hierarchies-of-containers, someone will have to come up with an equally
well-ordered alternative model.

So to make a start at that:

- pages can be analysed into blocks of content (text-paragraphs, images,
and forms I guess) visually differentiated by (content-free) separators

- text-blocks normally have variable 'aspect ratio' (you can make them
wider or narrower by adjusting the height correspondingly)

- in print, text-blocks are often split to fit the end of the page, but
on the web this should never be necessary. (it's easy to break one block
into two or more, though-- ie, sentences into paragraphs.)

- separators will normally include whitespace, sometimes with other
visual elements (eg horizontal rule, surrounding border)

- whitespace may provide vertical displacement; horizontal displacement
is usually done as indentation (only the left edge displaced to the
right, the right edge is constant, or displaced _left_ symmetrically)

- font-variations can assist separators in differentiating text-blocks
(face, style, size, color). These variations also work _within_ a
text-block.

- tables and lists can be formatted as 'stacks' (columns) of small
blocks, with identical separators between them. (Such units may be
grouped hierarchically, but this is a convenience, not a structural
prerequisite.)

- side-by-side text-blocks (ie columns) should be used very sparingly on
the web, imho

This vocabulary can probably be extended to include windows and
scrolling, etc...

--
 http://www.robotwisdom.com/  "Relentlessly intelligent
yet playful, polymathic in scope of interests, minimalist
but user-friendly design." --Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel


    Reply to author    Forward  
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.

Create a group - Google Groups - Google Home - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy
©2009 Google