Re: Microformats gets strong showing in Firefox 3 UI

From: "Alex Faaborg" <faaborgmozilla.com>
> Changing the cursor isn't perfect, but it is the only
way for the  browser 
> to provide a visual cue of contextual action without
directly  modifying 
> the page itself, which is why this is the best solution
I  have heard so 
> far.

Will this be able to combine with other existing extensions
that change the 
mouse cursor?
If it will interoperate, it shouldn't be the primary means
by which the 
imformation is made known.

>> The cursor thing could be in addition to other ways
(that don't
>> exhibit MMN) of getting at Microformats.
>
> The cursor change isn't technically mystery meat
navigation, since  you 
> can hopefully see what you are hovering over, and the
icon of the 
> application that is going to launch is appended to the
cursor.

Strictly speaking it isn't MMN because navigation itself
isn't involved. The 
problems surrounding the cursor change though are identical.
If it is the 
only mechanism to find microformat content, it won't be
found until someone 
chances across it if they notice it changing when it crosses
such content.

The mouse cursor operation won't be able to survive all by
itself. It will 
need other techniques to back it up. I suggest some below.

<snip>

> In a lot of cases it is easier to directly interact
with information  in 
> the page than it is to find it in a menu somewhere. 
For instance,  if you 
> want to map a single item in a list of 100 items, you
don't  want to do a 
> visual scan for the same item in a menu, you just want 
to click on it.

My suggestion is:
- A microformats icon appears when such information is
available, and a 
dialog box should appear to introduce the microformat logo,
with a tick box 
to not show it again
- The microformat content is made visible (dotted border, or
some other 
mechanism) temporarily when whe microformat logo is hovered
over, or 
permanently (until page refresh) when clicked.
- The microformat logo should have a couple of drop-down
options such as 
"Outline Microformat Content" and another option
for a modal dialog box 
containing the microformat content information.
- The mouse can indicate the microformat type when it hovers
over the 
content, but it should not activate the outlining of the
content. That would 
get too messy and distracting.
- The context-menu (right-click) should provide the ability
to interact with 
the microformat content

This allows several types of behaviour to take place:
- you can guess at what is microformat content should you
desire to
- you can hover briefly on the logo to get an idea of where
the microformat 
content is, then use the mouse to interact with the content
- you can turn on the microformat outline for the page then
scroll to find 
relevant pieces
- people who don't know they can click the microformat logo
can still 
activate it from the drop-down menu

-- 
Paul Wilkins 

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On Jun 5, 2007, at 10:57 PM, Paul Wilkins wrote:

> Strictly speaking it isn't MMN because navigation
itself isn't  
> involved. The problems surrounding the cursor change
though are  
> identical. If it is the only mechanism to find
microformat content,  
> it won't be found until someone chances across it if
they notice it  
> changing when it crosses such content.

I was thinking about this, and I wonder -- how did people
learn the  
behavior that you can click on a blue, underlined piece of
text? Think  
about a pre-web world where nobody knew what hypertext was.
People  
needed to figure out somehow that you could click on links
to make  
them activate.

Enter, the hand cursor. If you think about it, it tells you
nothing  
about what's actually going to happen when you click --
instead, it  
looks like someone about to click the mouse, so I suppose
it's  
inviting for people to mimic the gesture? This still doesn't
answer  
the question of how people would discover this. My guess is
that  
people scan the page with their mouse as they read. I know I
do that  
sometimes. Anyone have actual evidence?

Perhaps we don't need to worry about discoverability of
microformats  
further than just changing the cursor, after all.

-Colin
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