Interaction Space
This list is not intended to be complete, it is simply included to indicate the complexity we face even when designing and evolving a 2D thinking space on a screen – if we choose to go as far as we can…
Nodes are the information bits, the points on the screen. For the development of the Dynamic Views in Author the nodes are the headings from the word processor view.
• Text Headings
• Text Comments
• Images; pictures, diagrams
• Nested Dynamic Views,
• Links to Local or remote Documents/Media
• Glossary Terms in use/not in use
• Active Nodes: Search Query Triggers, Layout Triggers
• Annotations
• …
Appearance
The lines are what visually directly connects nodes and they can represent. The visual attributes of colour, thickness, solidity, transparency and so on can be used to convey different things:
• Just lines for the users needs
• Simple Internal and External Local/Remote Links
• Specific types of Links
• Pointers, such as to keywords hidden under the nodes where the nodes represent more information
• …
What is important in a dynamic view is not just nodes and lines but the arrangement of them:
• Proximity
• Connections
• Boundaries (visual shapes of primitives and freeform ‘drawn’ on the screen)
• Hide/Reveal specific types of nodes
• Hide/Reveal specific types of lines
• Collaborate with others through annotations
• Increase/Decrease hierarchy openness
• Transclusions/means through which other dynamic views can easily be re-used/linked
• Auto-snap to saved layouts
• Creation/Use of Glossary Terms
• Add/Hide/Delete nodes
• Add/Hide/Delete lines
• Surface hidden information
• Draw in information from external sources
• Placement in 3D
• Alter visual characteristics of all/specific nodes/lines or other
• Development of interactions across different platforms, including web-access and interaction
• …
© Frode Hegland 2020