[TYPO3-hci] The Constant Triptichon

[David Toshack]

Hi Guys,

IMHO the concept of FE vs. BE editing is not a natural HCI concept. It
is a TYPO3 concept which only causes an extra layer of complexity to
newbies. "Editing content in relation to its context" vs. "editing
content irrelevant to its context" is a natural HCI concept. Table of
contents vs. index/search for example.


Lets look at this from a distance to work out _why_ different styles of
editing are required. You don't use the index to find context sensitive
content of a book. You use the table of contents because it guides you
to the context in which that content is to be found.

Conversely, you don't scroll through the table of contents to find a
specific piece of content in which the context is irrelevant to your
requirements. That is what the index or search is for.


IMHO FE editing should be merged with TemplaVoila for context sensitive
content editing. With the option of a "Dynamic Content Only" toggle to
replace the TemplaVoila Page module.

I don't agree with the documentation argument against a context
sensitive editing layout. Car manufactures make many different makes and
models of cars. Most of which have a completely different layout. The
car manual will show you where all the major components can be found via
a _very_abstract_ diagram. This diagram is specific to that particular
model, which is all that is required in terms of finding the major
components of your car. Although quite abstract in nature, I am not
degrading the importance of this diagram. Its usually found on the first
few pages of a manual. Not dissimilar to a sitemap which should always
be found on the top level of a website.

Manufacturers that make both cars and trucks don't make the interior
_exactly_ the same. That's crazy! The design and layout is relative to
the context of the vehicle.

Although one might be a truck and one might be a car, if it is the same
manufacturer in the same era, in 9 out of 10 cases you will find that
window wipers, demisters, radio controls, foot pedals, even boot
releases ... all work the same way; which is where the specific,
collaborated documentation in the manual lies.

Not only are context sensitive concepts recognized by humans in day to
day life, they actually _simplify_ documentation. Why would you bother
introducing a new context which has to be learned, rather than using the
existing context that humans already understand? That is as crazy as a
car sharing the same interior as a truck. Not only is it not natural,
but its sooo much more natural for the context to be relative to the
model in which they are trying to relate it to.


I apologize if I have gone off on a tangent and am thinking more into
the future than this thread was intended, but I believe this method
makes the clear 1-2-3-you're-done process for editing much easier
because the user relies on the automated context sensitive methodologies
they have learnt simply from web surfing, instead of the need to
reinvent and dictate new ones that are usually irrelevant to the context
they are intended for anyway.


Cheers,
David


Uschi Renziehausen wrote:
> Hi Joey,
> 
> JoH wrote:
>>> It seems to me that we have 3 people thinking that the backend
>>> representing the front end visually in some manner is a good idea -
>>> and one person (all due respect) obviously in disagreement,
>>
>> You can count me in, so it's 3:2   :-)
> 
> Now it is 4:2 ;-)
> 
>> IMHO a great number of the TV downloads is due to the fact that the
>> tutorial
>> is called "futuristic template building" so maybe you should choose a
>> similar wording to get better results ;-)
> 
> May I inform you that I first heard/read about TV as a possibility for
> getting out of the restrictions to 3-5 collums and then was frustrated
> because I could not find any help how to use it, because I did not know
> that the title of the TV-Tutorial is 'Futuristic Template Building'?
> 
>>
>> Just my 2 cents
>>
>> Joey
> 
> Another cent by Uschi :)
> 
>>