Re: [Epiphany] Re: Page Snapback feature

[hyperf <hyperf earthlink net>]

On Fri, 2003-06-13 at 18:34, Daniel Borgmann wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-06-13 at 20:17, David Adam Bordoley wrote:
> > Daniel Borgmann writes:
> > > 
> > > It does, but usually this menu is full of entries with completely equal
> > > titles so it's useless to me. It is also often difficult to find what
> > > I'm looking for when I browse too many pages.
> > > However, how about including the page snapback in this menu as a special
> > > item (in bold maybe)? Then it can never get lost and one can find it
> > > easily. You would only need one menu item then (to set the snapback
> > > page). 
> > > 
> > > Daniel 
> > > 
> >  
> > 
> > My personal opinion, is that we should look at tasks and design ui for the 
> > task. Copying apples features will not lead to good ui, if we thought it 
> > would, we'd copy safari pixel for pixel. 
> 
> Sure...
> 
> > So the first question is what is the task that snapback accomplishes in 
> > safari. Once we have a handle on this issue, we can design ui based on it. 
> 
> I thought I described that. :)
> I open a large page with lots of entries (like search results or a large
> comment thread). Now I want to browse a certain link but I know that I
> want to return to where I am because there are lots of other links I
> want to browse, too. Usually I would open a new tab now, because this
> would allow me to go back by closing the tab. This leads to lots of open
> tabs and is also pretty much the only use case where "jump to new tab
> automatically" would be more convenient (which doesn't exist anymore).
> Using an extra tab for this is a waste because I know that I will not
> return to the original page until I have finished reading the new page
> (closed the tab) anyway.
> 
> Ideally, I would not open a new tab but be able to quickly go back to
> this overview page whenever I want. The back history can do this, but
> there are issues:
> - More often than not the website will not use unique names for each
> page so it's impossible to identify the page I want to go back to.
> - It's much less convenient to find the page I'm looking for in a long
> list than to simply close a tab.
> 
> Actually most items which appear in the dropdown history are useless for
> me. I'm just wondering, do average people actually use them for anything
> but what I described above (if at all)? 
> 
> I would have two suggestions which might fit the current model:
> 1) Do not place history items in the dropdown lists by default but an
> item "Mark current page" (or similar). Only if a page is marked, it
> would appear in the list(s) if appropriate. This would allow users to
> easily mark everything they might want to return to and the fact that
> it's put in the dropdown list, would make it easy to discover. Other
> than that, it would behave exactly like the current model.
> 
> 2) Like 1), but still showing every page in the list. If a page is
> explicitly marked, it would appear at the top of the list and in bold
> letters.
> 
> The first would have the advantage that it would be very clean and
> uncluttered. The second would have the advantage that it would not break
> the current model.
> Both would have the main disadvantage that one extra item is placed in
> the list(s) and maybe that it adds some slight complexity. 
> But it would add a very useful feature IMO.
> 
> Daniel
> 
I was just following the snapback conversation and to me it seems that
what is being discussed is a lot like just a local bookmark. It seems
intuitive to have a button with 2 states. One in which it reflects that
a mark has been set on a particular page/place and with one click allows
u to go there and a second state in which there has been no mark set and
you can do that exactly where u r right now. This just seems to be a
particular use for a short-term bookmark in the original meaning of the
word that allows a user to mark a place either in a page or a few pages
back. I think it was explained pretty well before me the use for such a
feature in browsing search results or in following multiple hyperlink
paths. I would agree that it could be a pretty nifty feature for some
people. Sorry if I'm restating what has been said before or the obvious
:) Just couldn't resist the urge to put my 2c in. 


-- 
-Igor