Replies: 4 comments
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This is an interesting feature. But I have two comments.
What do you think? |
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Yes, I suppose these are all alternative approaches to the same problem. Judging from experience with text editors, minimap would probably be the least effective: it's tiny, bulky, and slow to make out, forcing people to squint. Come think, it's one of the first features I turn off in any new text editor! The "radar" arrows, as you point out, have the advantage of allowing participants to scroll around independently. I appreciate this freedom because it encourages everyone's engagement with the material, and allows people to "catch up" independently if anything has slipped off their working memory during the session. On the other hand, central control of the viewport would allow the lecturer to stay focused on the discourse, rather than asking students to "turn to board #N" or "find the object that…" There are pros and cons… I'm afraid I don't have a strong opinion on the matter.
I work mostly interactively... but your point is well-taken otherwise. |
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Dear tekhnee, OK, I will not implement a minimap then. I think it is too much. However we could imagine a button that takes all the board and makes a minimap from it. Then you see the full board and you can choose the viewport. When the viewport is chosen, the board is again normal size and you can write again. Maybe more usable that the arrow < and > for navigating in all the board. What do you think? |
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@francoisschwarzentruber if I understand correctly, you are suggesting a continuous rather than stepwise control for the viewport. I would personally find that extremely useful — with or without a minimap. Do you think the minimap could be implemented without significant overhead in terms of browser or server resources? (I only guess, without being certain, that it would be more economical to produce the minimap once and transmit it periodically to all clients, rather than producing it independently on each browser.) Personally I wouldn't miss a minimap — but others might find it more important. The continuous scroll control, though, would be very liberating. Thank you — wishing you a Happy New Year! |
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As the tableau begins to get long (4–5 boards or more), students might get lost. The number on the upper-right corner is not always visible, to begin with, especially with small window sizes. In a remote class, without visual contact and all that loss of body language, much talking and scrolling would take place just to ensure that everyone is, literally, on the same page.
Instead, the board creator could be allowed to control scrolling on all clients (a kind of "presentation mode").
Since every client has, in general, a different window size, the scroll position could use the horizontal midpoint of the owner's view as reference, ensuring that it be displayed as midpoint on all other clients.
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