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Posted to dev@commons.apache.org by "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu> on 2004/02/23 02:34:59 UTC
[commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
I worked out the kinks on an alternate project navigation, please have a
look and comment:
http://www.apache.org/~mdiggory/commons/math/project-info.html
Pro's
1.) Navigation better integrated into page layout.
2.) Horizontal positioning at top of page more traditional for navigation.
3.) Strong CSS control over look and feel, 0% javascript
4.) Clearly separates "Shared Commons Navigation" from "Individual
Project Navigation".
Con's
1.) Limits number of items on a level to the width of the page
(although it does provide "wrapping" when items are greater than width).
2.) Currently limited to menus nested three levels deep.
(but easily extendable to more).
3.) Currently doesn't integrate custom project navigation.
(but could easily be adapted for such support, I had initially included
it, but encountered small issues with merging two separate "menu sets").
I think its important to clearly separate the "Projects Navigation" from
the overall shared "Commons Navigation", I believe positioning them in
very separate locations of the site gives the user a much clearer path
and ease in determining the level of the site they are within.
-Mark
--
Mark Diggory
Software Developer
Harvard MIT Data Center
http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu
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Re: [commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
Posted by "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu>.
Stephen Colebourne wrote:
> Is this a debate about whether commons is one project or many? I had thought
> that there was general agreement to unify the commons site's look and feel.
> Maybe I was wrong.
I'm not going to argue about it either, thats fruitless. But, unifying
the look and feel doesn't mean everything looks like its one great big
singular project... I think of Commons as Modular Components, There
should be some clear boundary between them in terms of the site structure.
>
> My solution to the problem you describe is to add extra links to the top
> part of the navigation.
> Overview
> User guide
> Examples
> FAQ
> Javadoc
> Team list
> TODO
> CVS
>
> The standard maven part then follows. I certainally don't want to lose a
> large proportion of the content area to navigation as well.
This is whats currently there, the stuff I'm doing is experimental. I
expect it'll go through many incarnations and will only be used if we
reach a consensus on it. Not to worry, I won't be going in and suddenly
replacing what we've done upto now with the demo I showed.
>
> If you want to distinguish between project and leaving-project links on the
> left, then we should use colours to theme the areas.
>
Thats a good point and something we can easily do right now without
major "ripples".
--
Mark Diggory
Software Developer
Harvard MIT Data Center
http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu
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Re: [commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
Posted by Stephen Colebourne <sc...@btopenworld.com>.
Is this a debate about whether commons is one project or many? I had thought
that there was general agreement to unify the commons site's look and feel.
Maybe I was wrong.
My solution to the problem you describe is to add extra links to the top
part of the navigation.
Overview
User guide
Examples
FAQ
Javadoc
Team list
TODO
CVS
The standard maven part then follows. I certainally don't want to lose a
large proportion of the content area to navigation as well.
If you want to distinguish between project and leaving-project links on the
left, then we should use colours to theme the areas.
Stephen
From: "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu>
> Stephen Colebourne wrote:
> > I have to be honest and say that I don't like this tab style for
commons. It
> > moves the page content too far down, and makes the links too important
in my
> > view.
>
> Hmm, but, they ARE more important. Whats the most important thing I want
> to "navigate" when at the level of a subproject? In such a case the
> commons global content is really just "branding" and a means to get to
> another subproject. If I'm in the Math Project, I want to really have
> the "In project Navigation" very salient and obvious, I want it clearly
> obvious when I'm navigating in the subproject and when I'm leaving it.
> >
> > (Technically/visually it looks nice though ;-)
> >
> > Stephen
> >
>
> One possibility is to consolidate the layout a little more and push it up
> out of the "Main" content section. One possibility is to attempt to
> structure/space the In Project Navigation more like this
>
> ignore the hideous colors ;-)
> http://www.objectlearn.com/index.jsp
>
> -Mark
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Re: [commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
Posted by "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu>.
Stephen Colebourne wrote:
> I have to be honest and say that I don't like this tab style for commons. It
> moves the page content too far down, and makes the links too important in my
> view.
Hmm, but, they ARE more important. Whats the most important thing I want
to "navigate" when at the level of a subproject? In such a case the
commons global content is really just "branding" and a means to get to
another subproject. If I'm in the Math Project, I want to really have
the "In project Navigation" very salient and obvious, I want it clearly
obvious when I'm navigating in the subproject and when I'm leaving it.
>
> (Technically/visually it looks nice though ;-)
>
> Stephen
>
One possibility is to consolidate the layout a little more and push it up
out of the "Main" content section. One possibility is to attempt to
structure/space the In Project Navigation more like this
ignore the hideous colors ;-)
http://www.objectlearn.com/index.jsp
-Mark
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu>
>
>>I worked out the kinks on an alternate project navigation, please have a
>>look and comment:
>>
>>http://www.apache.org/~mdiggory/commons/math/project-info.html
>>
>>Pro's
>>
>>1.) Navigation better integrated into page layout.
>>2.) Horizontal positioning at top of page more traditional for navigation.
>>3.) Strong CSS control over look and feel, 0% javascript
>>4.) Clearly separates "Shared Commons Navigation" from "Individual
>>Project Navigation".
>>
>>Con's
>>
>>1.) Limits number of items on a level to the width of the page
>>(although it does provide "wrapping" when items are greater than width).
>>
>>2.) Currently limited to menus nested three levels deep.
>>(but easily extendable to more).
>>3.) Currently doesn't integrate custom project navigation.
>>(but could easily be adapted for such support, I had initially included
>>it, but encountered small issues with merging two separate "menu sets").
>>
>>
>>I think its important to clearly separate the "Projects Navigation" from
>>the overall shared "Commons Navigation", I believe positioning them in
>>very separate locations of the site gives the user a much clearer path
>>and ease in determining the level of the site they are within.
>>
>>-Mark
>>--
>>Mark Diggory
>>Software Developer
>>Harvard MIT Data Center
>>http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu
>>
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>To unsubscribe, e-mail: commons-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
>>For additional commands, e-mail: commons-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: commons-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: commons-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
--
Mark Diggory
Software Developer
Harvard MIT Data Center
http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: [commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
Posted by Stephen Colebourne <sc...@btopenworld.com>.
I have to be honest and say that I don't like this tab style for commons. It
moves the page content too far down, and makes the links too important in my
view.
(Technically/visually it looks nice though ;-)
Stephen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu>
> I worked out the kinks on an alternate project navigation, please have a
> look and comment:
>
> http://www.apache.org/~mdiggory/commons/math/project-info.html
>
> Pro's
>
> 1.) Navigation better integrated into page layout.
> 2.) Horizontal positioning at top of page more traditional for navigation.
> 3.) Strong CSS control over look and feel, 0% javascript
> 4.) Clearly separates "Shared Commons Navigation" from "Individual
> Project Navigation".
>
> Con's
>
> 1.) Limits number of items on a level to the width of the page
> (although it does provide "wrapping" when items are greater than width).
>
> 2.) Currently limited to menus nested three levels deep.
> (but easily extendable to more).
> 3.) Currently doesn't integrate custom project navigation.
> (but could easily be adapted for such support, I had initially included
> it, but encountered small issues with merging two separate "menu sets").
>
>
> I think its important to clearly separate the "Projects Navigation" from
> the overall shared "Commons Navigation", I believe positioning them in
> very separate locations of the site gives the user a much clearer path
> and ease in determining the level of the site they are within.
>
> -Mark
> --
> Mark Diggory
> Software Developer
> Harvard MIT Data Center
> http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: commons-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: commons-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: [commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
Posted by "Mark R. Diggory" <md...@latte.harvard.edu>.
Ok I added the following:
1.) first three navi levels stay the same height if content present or not.
2.) nested custom project documentation menus under "About <Project>"
(requires special formating (and menu/@type="tab" attribute to be
visible there).
3.) disabled "Development Process" button (working on removing it).
As an example of three levels being filled:
http://www.apache.org/~mdiggory/commons/math/userguide/index.html
-Mark
Tim O'Brien wrote:
> I think this helps. Although the "About Math" tab should have a blank
> subtab for consistency.
>
> ...now the left nav - it is soooo busy.
>
> Tim
>
>
> Mark R. Diggory wrote:
>
>> I worked out the kinks on an alternate project navigation, please have
>> a look and comment:
>>
>> http://www.apache.org/~mdiggory/commons/math/project-info.html
>>
>> Pro's
>>
>> 1.) Navigation better integrated into page layout.
>> 2.) Horizontal positioning at top of page more traditional for
>> navigation.
>> 3.) Strong CSS control over look and feel, 0% javascript
>> 4.) Clearly separates "Shared Commons Navigation" from "Individual
>> Project Navigation".
>>
>> Con's
>>
>> 1.) Limits number of items on a level to the width of the page
>> (although it does provide "wrapping" when items are greater than width).
>>
>> 2.) Currently limited to menus nested three levels deep.
>> (but easily extendable to more).
>> 3.) Currently doesn't integrate custom project navigation.
>> (but could easily be adapted for such support, I had initially
>> included it, but encountered small issues with merging two separate
>> "menu sets").
>>
>>
>> I think its important to clearly separate the "Projects Navigation"
>> from the overall shared "Commons Navigation", I believe positioning
>> them in very separate locations of the site gives the user a much
>> clearer path and ease in determining the level of the site they are
>> within.
>>
>> -Mark
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: commons-dev-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: commons-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
--
Mark Diggory
Software Developer
Harvard MIT Data Center
http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu
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Re: [commons-site] Alternate Horizontal Project Navigation
Posted by Tim O'Brien <to...@discursive.com>.
I think this helps. Although the "About Math" tab should have a blank
subtab for consistency.
...now the left nav - it is soooo busy.
Tim
Mark R. Diggory wrote:
> I worked out the kinks on an alternate project navigation, please have a
> look and comment:
>
> http://www.apache.org/~mdiggory/commons/math/project-info.html
>
> Pro's
>
> 1.) Navigation better integrated into page layout.
> 2.) Horizontal positioning at top of page more traditional for navigation.
> 3.) Strong CSS control over look and feel, 0% javascript
> 4.) Clearly separates "Shared Commons Navigation" from "Individual
> Project Navigation".
>
> Con's
>
> 1.) Limits number of items on a level to the width of the page
> (although it does provide "wrapping" when items are greater than width).
>
> 2.) Currently limited to menus nested three levels deep.
> (but easily extendable to more).
> 3.) Currently doesn't integrate custom project navigation.
> (but could easily be adapted for such support, I had initially included
> it, but encountered small issues with merging two separate "menu sets").
>
>
> I think its important to clearly separate the "Projects Navigation" from
> the overall shared "Commons Navigation", I believe positioning them in
> very separate locations of the site gives the user a much clearer path
> and ease in determining the level of the site they are within.
>
> -Mark
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