[MG] Clearing entry paths for new users

[Michael Allan]

Thomas von der Elbe wrote:
> Wow, this type of controls sound promising. Would the top left logo
> also stay fixed, when the page scrolls? This would be good, right?
> And that the controls stay fixed, would make it really conveniant to
> work with the thing.

I agree that the controls must be fixed, otherwise they won't work.
But why change how the logo sits?
 
> One question: It is not, that to much functionality goes into this,
> which actually belongs to the theatre? I pictured lots of the
> comparing controls in the theatre, but they can be there too, right?

Yes.  As always we're constrained by the essentials.  It's essential
for the author to see particular textual differences while authoring.
It's equally essential for the reader to see what the author sees.
The wiki page is probably the only place for this.  Crossforum theatre
is far away and high flying.

Crossforum theatre may be good for a broader, bird's-eye view of
differences.  But that should probably come later.  It won't help the
user who's looking at a wiki page.  Isn't Ed's insight dead on here?
Millions of users are looking at wiki pages while almost none (as yet)
are looking at crossforum theatre, or at the other toolsets.  We need
to be where the users are, first of all.

Unless the reader is *already* sold on the prospect of drafting a new
home page for Metagov, these drafts are a snooze:
http://metagovernment.org/wiki/Main_Page/2010-redesign-8
http://metagovernment.org/wiki/User:Conseo/draft

But highlight and link to where the other drafters have proposed
changes, and the reader is going to say, "Wow."

Alexander Praetorius (Tunisia and activism in general) wrote:
> I believe the average person is not good in deriving an interesting
> particular case from the general one, but I believe the average
> person is much more skilled in deriving an intuitive general concept
> from a particular case of interest.
> 
> After this intuitive concept is acquired, it is much easier for the
> average person to transfer this knowledge to other particular cases
> of interest.

Exactly right.

> > The segment counter (c) is also a display switch.  Click it and
> > the navigation controls (b) disappear.  Click again and the anchor
> > link (a) and footprint (d) disappear, leaving only the counter
> > itself on the page.  Click and the footprint reappears.  And so
> > on.
>
> Very good!

It needed a switch Thomas, you were right.

> > What do you think?  I figure we need footprints vs. our voters and
> > candidates, but not the entire forest.  (My original idea went too
> > far.)  And this simplifies the controls considerably.
> 
> Diffs vs. the co-voters of my candidate e.g. will be quite important
> to me too, in case I offer him my votes without voting for him yet.
>
> > * Xa. and Xb. are users from elsewhere in the tree or forest.
> > Normally you only see one of them, and only if the footprint is
> > vs. someone other than your voter or candidate.  But you may pin
> > any number of users up there, and they'll always be displayed
> > along with your voters.
> 
> This seems to solve it, but how can you "pin" users up there?

If we stand by the principle that the reader sees what the author
sees, then pin-ups are everyone's business.  The easiest thing, in
that case, is probably to pin them in our {{draft}} markers:
http://metagovernment.org/wiki/Template:Draft

-- 
Michael Allan

Toronto, +1 416-699-9528
http://zelea.com/


> > Anchor link (a) and segment links (d) take you to the bridge, exactly
> > as before.  The new controls are in (b) and (c).
> >
> >
> >                          (a)   ] [ +-----------+
> >                                    | user page |
> >                                 +--+           +--------------------
> >    +-------------------------+  |
> >    |                         |
> >    |                         |  3    (c)
> >    |                         |  v
> >    |   w i k i               |
> >    |                         |  |
> >    |        l o g o          |  |
> >    |                         |  |
> >    |             i m a g e   |  |
> >    |                         |  |
> >    |                         |  |
> >    |                         |  |
> >    +-------------------------+  |
> >                                 |
> >              Xb. Xa. | Vi. Vh.  |
> >    Vg. Vf. Ve. Vd. Vc. Vb. Va.  |
> >                             |   |
> >                            Yu.  |
> >                             |   |
> >                  (b)       Ca.  |
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                ]|[   (d)
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                ]|[
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >                                ]|[
> >                                 |
> >                                 |
> >
> >
> > The navigation controls (b) float beneath the top-left logo image.
> > They are not attached to the page, but to the viewport.  See for
> > example the title bar here: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/ (scroll to see
> > it).



Originally posted to the mailing list of the Metagovernment Project:
http://metagovernment.org/mailman/listinfo/start_metagovernment.org