A few comments on exits

Ti Leggett leggett at mcs.anl.gov
Fri Mar 21 11:43:22 CST 2003


When it comes time for the map problem, I propose a hyperbolic tree
viewer. Mark and I figured out what we think is the algorithm sometime
back, but I can't seem to find the napkins it was written. Mark will
probably remember something and between the two of us maybe we can come
back up with it.

On Fri, 2003-03-21 at 10:53, Ivan R. Judson wrote:
> Susanne, 
> 
> Thanks definitely for your work.  I'd like to make sure you don't spend time
> on the map problem yet. That's not something we have on our plate, but is
> something we are planning as we work on the community layer.
> 
> --Ivan
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-ag-dev at mcs.anl.gov 
> > [mailto:owner-ag-dev at mcs.anl.gov] On Behalf Of Terry Disz
> > Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 10:16 AM
> > To: Susanne Lefvert
> > Cc: ag-dev at mcs.anl.gov
> > Subject: RE: A few comments on exits
> > 
> > 
> > Susanne,
> > 
> > That sounds good, I'll check it out today.
> > 
> > As far as a map, I thought a lot about that and  what I am 
> > asking for is just the ability to:
> > 
> > a) know where I came from, as in a special highlight or 
> > placement of that exit
> > b) the ability to look ahead as I desire, giving me control 
> > of how much information is displayed.
> > 
> > That can easily be accomplished if you:
> > 
> > 1. Provide an indication on each exit that tells if it's room 
> > also has exits. 2. Give me the ability to recursively open 
> > that room and see if it's room also has exits. This would 
> > work like a windows explorer layout, giving the user control 
> > of what levels are displayed, where to apply focus, etc.
> > 
> > These two simple things would  give the user complete control 
> > of locational context, which is sorely lacking today. 
> > Navigation could be performed with a sense of purpose and 
> > direction, not just random wandering through the warren. This 
> > works regardless of the complexity of room interconnections 
> > because it gives the user control of display.
> > 
> > 
> > Terry
> > 
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Susanne Lefvert [mailto:lefvert at mcs.anl.gov]
> > > Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 9:15 AM
> > > To: disz at mcs.anl.gov
> > > Cc: ag-dev at mcs.anl.gov
> > > Subject: Re: A few comments on exits
> > >
> > >
> > > I have changed the door icon to a smaller (but still very 
> > cute) image 
> > > and am trying to make the exits list more space efficient by having 
> > > icon and text next to each other instead of text being placed under 
> > > icon.
> > >
> > > I definitely think that we should try to figure out how 
> > users should 
> > > be able to find the venue they are looking for as easy as possible. 
> > > However, I personally have two concerns regarding the 
> > building of a UI 
> > > map:
> > >
> > > * In the real world, buildings etc are planned by an architect that 
> > > makes sure everything is going to be laid out properly. In 
> > our case we 
> > > have no rules on how to connect rooms to each other, it is 
> > a virtual 
> > > space, so mapping this in a UI will be hard. In the real world we 
> > > can't connect a room with 100 other rooms and expect it to 
> > work, as we 
> > > can in the virtual venue space.
> > >
> > > * The dynamic nature of connections will make the creation of a map 
> > > difficult. The layout of rooms have to be made 
> > programmatically, and 
> > > how to make this look good, I don't know...
> > >
> > > Susanne
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, Terry Disz wrote:
> > >
> > > > I don't find the exits list to be very efficient and it doesn't
> > > provide me
> > > > with enough information.
> > > >
> > > > The door thingy is cute, but takes up too much room. The vertical 
> > > > arrangement of door and name wastes space. There is no context
> > > provided, so
> > > > I find it easy to be lost. I would like to see something that
> > > showed where I
> > > > came from, and the ability to expand, like explorer, the next
> > > level exits in
> > > > each exit so I could do a little look-ahead.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Terry
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > 
> 




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