[drupal-docs] Transitioning to header-free book pages (was Re: Styleguide)

[Anisa]

Looks good to me.  :)

I don't mean that in the sense that I agree headers are evil, but that 
this is rather like how I would have reogranized that page anyway.  ;)

Anisa.

puregin wrote:

>Hi Bryan/Doc people -
>
>     I've tried to tackle the section you suggested to illustrate a 
>proposed process
>for transitioning documentation from 'embedded header' format to
>a header-less format.
>
>     I've posted the results on my site:
>
>        http://www.puregin.org/node/127
>
>(I apologize for my somewhat broken attempt to 'improve'
>the themeing of book module.  Sigh.  Also, Konqueror seems
>broken on my CSS, and I've not dared try IE.  Sigh again)
>
>     There's three subsections, one for each of
>
>          - the current structure
>          - the transitional structure (embedded sections extracted as 
>children)
>          - a conformant structure (no embedded html header elements)
>
>     My take on current structure:
>          - section titles don't appear in navigation context - it hard 
>to find context
>             without reading a fairly long page, with potentially quite 
>diverse content
>          - there's too many headers, and levels of headers, which 
>breaks up the
>            text, without clarifying structure.   For example, a section 
>titled "What are
>            blocks" isn't really necessary as the first subsection of a 
>sections "Blocks".
>
>      The transitional structure reveals structural problems with the 
>original:
>          - there are some sections now which have no content, only 
>children.
>            This begs for content to be 'pulled up'.
>          - The hierarchy of sections is too deep
>          - Structure is manifest (all headers are revealed in the 
>navigation block)
>             but somewhat redundant.
>
>      My attempted 'conformant' rewrite attempts to remedy the issues 
>above.
>          - Structure is still manifest
>          - By pulling content up and removing redundant structure, the 
>structure
>            supports the content
>          - The hierarchy has been collapsed to three levels within 
>'chapters'
>          - Each node is shorter, and more focussed.  There's nothing 
>'below
>            the fold' except in the examples subsections.
>          - There's still lots of room for improvement :)
>
>      Some notes I made the in the course of this:
>
>           - it would be nice to have a 'make a copy of this book page'
>             function which would make a copy as a sibling of the
>             page being viewed.
>
>           - I'm thinking that the user interface for viewing a book 
>should
>             present quite a different view than the editing view.
>             I'm thinking something along the lines of a paged
>             HTML view of the 'Printer friendly' output of the entire
>             subtree being edited.  If the navigation block could
>             track the position within the book as one paged
>             through the text, that would be very useful.  (I'm
>             thinking of something much like most PDF viewers)
>                     There's (at least) two simultaneous and valid
>             models of what a book is - a writer/editor often
>             thinks of the local hierarchical structure; while a
>             reader probably more often sees the local
>             linear structure.
>
>     I'm looking forward to your feedback.
>
>     Djun
>
>
>On 26 Apr 2005, at 6:38 AM, bryan kennedy wrote:
>
>  
>
>>On Apr 26, 2005, at 7:35 AM, Dries Buytaert wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I think I'm convinced ... maybe we should try not to use headers in 
>>>book pages.  As long the book's depth stays within the agreed range, 
>>>I'm OK with the proposed work.
>>>      
>>>
>>Okay I am still way confused about how this would work.  I mean I 
>>don't get how we will decrease the navigation depth with out making in 
>>each subsection super "wide" while eliminating headers in the content 
>>of the book pages.
>>
>>But I am totally willing to be convinced.  Could someone take a stab 
>>at describing how they would restructure this content (broken up into 
>>two main header sections, five sub header sections) within the other 
>>18 items below it.  Please emphasize why this would be beneficial to 
>>the user experience:
>>Blocks
>>http://drupal.org/node/17170
>>I am not trying to be obstinate I guess I just haven't seen any 
>>examples of how this would work.
>>
>>I would also like to re-iterate my belief that we are building a 
>>website, not a book.  Yes, it would be awesome if we could take the 
>>content from our website and do a book friendly output, but IMO the 
>>people who want this are a minority audience (even if a majority of 
>>devel on this list want it).
>>
>>bryan
>>    
>>
>
>  
>

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