Re: new help browser

[Dan Mueth <d-mueth uchicago edu>]

On Tue, 30 May 2000, Eric Baudais wrote:

> I would like to see a large index built into the new help browser.  It
> would be a universal index that has definitions of common computer and
> GNOME specific terms.  When you put the cursor over the word on the
> screen that is defined in the index, the definition appears in a text
> box at the bottom of the doc.
> 
> So, if you put the cursor over the word email, as an example, a box at
> the bottom of the doc will appear, like a footnote, telling you the
> definition of email.
[snip]

This is a very good idea.  (BTW, I think we should call this a
"glossary" instead of "index").  

One of the big questions is how the definitions are specified.  Do we want
a one-size-fits-all glossary?  This gives a nice, consistant feeling for
the user, but sacrifices flexibility to tailor the definition to the
particular context and easily handle words which have multiple
definitions.  Drake describes a comprehensive "Universal Index".  It
might be nice if we could have a big universal index with the option for
individual documents to define words.  Perhaps the documents could add new
words, and any duplicates added over-ride the universal index when viewing
that doc.

I like Drake's idea of a widget at the bottom of the window which is only
visible when one activates a definition. This avoids the problems of
having new windows opening up which a user would have to click on or
clicking back and forth between hyperlinked text.  This does however
produce a bit of flicker/resizing of the pane when the definition window
is revealed/hidden.  It could be very simple from a UI perspective though:
click on a word once and the definition widget at the bottom is made
visible (shrinking the main text view somewhat), click on it a second time
and it hides the definition widget, expanding the main view to its full
height.  

Another possibility would be to have a temporary window open similar to a
tooltip which has the definition in it, but would appear over the main
window (as tooltips do) to avoid using more screen space. It could be
easily closed (closes with <return>, mouse click, or mouse movement
outside the pop-up window). Or, it could behave just like a tooltip, just
appearing when the mouse is over the word.  

Dan