Re: [edict-jmdict] Suggestions to Improve Layout

["Dennis Schrader" <jpnthailand@*********>]

I have no grumble with either order but am still beating the drum for some kind of color/design/shape coding for certain buttons. Off the top of my head, the dictionary reference buttons as a group, Home getting maybe a Centered Focal type feeling. If you really have a lot of angst about this layout, go to a number of other sites. See what others have done. There is no need to copy them one for one, but one should at least look at other sites to gain some perspective.

Please understand, and I am quite often misunderstood here, that I am not advocating the splashing of color all over as if I were an artist gone mad. Not so. I still like the red, green, yellow color coding for the antonym, synonym and homonym sentence but the buttons only - linking to those sentences, no meaningless splashing of color. 

I really would not want a Chinese website. If you have been to China or seen the websites those youngsters design, you will know why I advocate taking a Dramanine before viewing them. They are dizzying and incredibly confusing - Pure Sensory Overload. Photoshop and Flash used to the max. When you look at those sites, you ask yourself what the heck are they selling or communicating?

Not so, with my suggestions. Subtlety but some color and shape/design variation thrown in. Surely all the participants in our group are aware of how shoppers shop. Shoppers don't read the product labels for the most part. They autonomically key on the colors and shapes, looking at the label only to confirm their decision. Why do you think I spent extra money to print my students' vocabulary flashcards on different colored cardboard paper? Rhetorical question answered: Because I know that's how the human mind works (can go back and dredge up studies if need be) and have seen all my students make better progress as a result of their seeing a word and pairing a color with it - the color jogs their memory to make an association; and associations/relationships are what standardardized tests test.

Same with users of Edict. Jim well knows that I have often worked for 12-16 hours straight using his sight. And you can sure imagine that even I get "punchy". Therefore any "easing" of our site's usage will make it even more attractive. Btw, Jim, you sure get good press on the Honyaku sight.

Hope I have helped you.

On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:40 PM, Hendrik <hiz--dic@*************> wrote:

Hi...

before the new layout has become entrenched, may i raise the issue of
button order (once more?)... I am thinking about ergonomics: a website
that is designed to work from the left to the right (as is common with
websites in English) would have the most often used buttons to the left
in the button bar.

Jim Breen wrote (about the title bar:
> [...] I use all the links quite often (apart

> from donations and copyright 8-)} )

Right, so do i - except that i use the "home" button exactly as rarely
as the two you mention. So now i am wondering if i am the only one who's
gotten used to having the buttons in a certain order and who therefore
often hits the wrong button. Let me illustrate what i mean:

The current layout order is as follows (some labels abbreviated):

Home / Translate W / Word S / Kanji L / Multi-Rad K / Example Search
New Entry / New Ex / User Guide / Dict Codes / Copyright / Donations

Considering my habits, i would be much happier with a layout like this:

Translate W / Word S / Kanji L / Multi-Rad K / User Guide / Home
Example Search / New Ex / New Entry / Dict Codes / Copyright / Donat

(I am not sure whether button 4 is used ore often than button 5 or the
other way around, but it seems they have been set like that for a long
time, so leaving them would be OK, at least for me)

Does anybody feel likewise or have other preferences? I find the
unexpected and unnecessary "home" button in the left upper corner a
major stumbling block. :-)

Thanks & regards: Hendrik

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