Interactives
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Rob Beezer
May 14, 2026, 12:24:34 PMMay 14
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We have lots of #interactive variants, which seem to work well in HTML output.
And I lump #audio and #video into the same category.
For years, a bigger question has been what to put into static forms. I've
settled on a #sidebyside, with the left two-thirds being a screenshot, and to
its right there is a #stack with a QR code and some traditional links. Yes, I
know this is not everybody's favorite feature.
This post is about the links. We can make up to four:
* Standalone: these are organized around a common vehicle, an #iframe. We can
make a dedicated page with this #iframe, and it gets hosted along with all the
other HTML stuff.
* In Context: a link to the location on the actual page in HTML form, where the
#interactive was born. Just recently got this working, along with Andrew (need
to understand HTML chunking while doing a static build...).
* Embed: basically just the #iframe element, or something like that. Maybe you
can stuff it in your LMS then. User requested.
* Server: some of these live on servers, like a YouTube video, or some Geogebra
(via a "material" ID).
A. I'm putting the Embed link in the PDF. That feels wrong - maybe it should
live in the HTML? Note that we (sometimes) have an icon that opens up the
Standalone version. Maybe an "embed" icon like we have for full pages.
B. Which URL goes in the QR code? Server does not always exist, so Standalone
and In Context are the only real choices. Maybe a publisher choice?
C. Server (if it exists), Standalone and In Context, could all go in the #stack
in the right portion of the #sidebyside. Maybe each has a boolean publisher option?
With some direction on these questions, I might be ready to do enough work to
*finally* say #interactive is not experimental anymore. ;-)
Rob
And I lump #audio and #video into the same category.
For years, a bigger question has been what to put into static forms. I've
settled on a #sidebyside, with the left two-thirds being a screenshot, and to
its right there is a #stack with a QR code and some traditional links. Yes, I
know this is not everybody's favorite feature.
This post is about the links. We can make up to four:
* Standalone: these are organized around a common vehicle, an #iframe. We can
make a dedicated page with this #iframe, and it gets hosted along with all the
other HTML stuff.
* In Context: a link to the location on the actual page in HTML form, where the
#interactive was born. Just recently got this working, along with Andrew (need
to understand HTML chunking while doing a static build...).
* Embed: basically just the #iframe element, or something like that. Maybe you
can stuff it in your LMS then. User requested.
* Server: some of these live on servers, like a YouTube video, or some Geogebra
(via a "material" ID).
A. I'm putting the Embed link in the PDF. That feels wrong - maybe it should
live in the HTML? Note that we (sometimes) have an icon that opens up the
Standalone version. Maybe an "embed" icon like we have for full pages.
B. Which URL goes in the QR code? Server does not always exist, so Standalone
and In Context are the only real choices. Maybe a publisher choice?
C. Server (if it exists), Standalone and In Context, could all go in the #stack
in the right portion of the #sidebyside. Maybe each has a boolean publisher option?
With some direction on these questions, I might be ready to do enough work to
*finally* say #interactive is not experimental anymore. ;-)
Rob
Andrew Scholer
May 14, 2026, 3:29:21 PMMay 14
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My 2c:
BTW - It would be trivial to always provide the open standalone icon if that was where the "Embed me" link lived.
Embed: Of the three that link to the authored environment, the embed link has the smallest audience. If the use case is to easily take an interactive from a book and reuse it on another web platform, I don't see why we would worry about it in the PDF at all. I would be doing that work in a web environment. And it shouldn't be prominent in the web version either - 99% of the users of a book won't need it and the other 1% will use it occasionally. Maybe it (optionally?) gets added to standalone pages in the HTML build. That seems like the least distracting place to put it.
BTW - It would be trivial to always provide the open standalone icon if that was where the "Embed me" link lived.
QR should go to In Context. From there you can get to the standalone. You can't easily (currently... feature request?) get from standalone back to In Context. If there is one interactive, there is a decent chance another one is coming soon. Taking the user to the In Context lets them easily navigate to that next interactive instead themselves instead of getting back out the cell phone to take a picture.
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Rob Beezer
May 14, 2026, 5:11:13 PMMay 14
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> From there you can get to the standalone.
Had not thought about that. Good point. ;-)
> instead of getting back out the cell phone
once. ;-)
> BTW - It would be trivial to always provide the open standalone icon if that
was where the "Embed me" link lived.
point to the In Context version.
Rob
On 5/14/26 12:28, Andrew Scholer wrote:
> My 2c:
>
> *Embed: *Of the three that link to the authored environment, the embed link has
> the smallest audience. If the use case is to easily take an interactive from a
> book and reuse it on another web platform, I don't see why we would worry about
> it in the PDF at all. I would be doing that work in a web environment. And it
> shouldn't be prominent in the web version either - 99% of the users of a book
> won't need it and the other 1% will use it occasionally. Maybe it (optionally?)
> gets added to standalone pages in the HTML build. That seems like the least
> distracting place to put it.
>
> BTW - It would be trivial to always provide the open standalone icon if that was
> where the "Embed me" link lived.
>
>
> *QR* should go to In Context. From there you can get to the standalone. You
> book and reuse it on another web platform, I don't see why we would worry about
> it in the PDF at all. I would be doing that work in a web environment. And it
> shouldn't be prominent in the web version either - 99% of the users of a book
> won't need it and the other 1% will use it occasionally. Maybe it (optionally?)
> gets added to standalone pages in the HTML build. That seems like the least
> distracting place to put it.
>
> BTW - It would be trivial to always provide the open standalone icon if that was
> where the "Embed me" link lived.
>
>
> dev%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.
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Andrew Scholer
May 15, 2026, 12:51:35 PMMay 15
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Looks like I already volunteered to do that back in March:
https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/pretext/commit/58dd3eeef3f88bec00523b8a4b479e9c0f76e77a
https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/pretext/commit/58dd3eeef3f88bec00523b8a4b479e9c0f76e77a
As of that, I believe that all interactives are now getting the open in standalone button.
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