Back at the end of January when we first started Auricle I suggested that, if Auricle proved to be useful and interesting to its intended global audience, we would pay greater attention to its 'look-and-feel'. The feedback I've been getting and the increasing reader stats suggests Auricle is valued, so in the 'quiet' moments of my recent vacation I've revamped the 'look-and-feel' as promised. For the rationale to the redesign, a discussion of issues, and an orientation to the features read on! Syndication Escapes the Ghetto
Readers of my previous articles will know that I believe syndication technologies to be key ingredients of distributed information and learning systems. So accordingly, I've relocated what was the 'Auricle RSS Dispenser' from the space limited ghetto of the sidebar to become 'Syndicated Sites', which will now display in the main content area. So, if you want to compare (or ignore) what we are saying, select a site from our syndications guest list for a summary of what others find interesting. You can return to the default state, i.e. no syndicated site displayed, by selecting 'Just Auricle' from the menu.
More Flexible Design
We are working towards more flexible designs. As an earlier article of mine highlighted, there are many beautifully designed resources on the web which are the equivalent of the insect forever trapped in amber. We may admire the insect but that's it, it's static, it can offer no alternative view of itself. So one of the things I wanted to begin to achieve was to build in, and retain, at least some flexibility in how Auricle and similar resources could be presented.
As many readers will know it's best if the structural and presentational elements of web sites are separated. Presentational elements are best represented in a text file called a stylesheet. Many stylesheets, however, are the source of inflexibility and inaccessibility because they specify some elements, e.g. text, in absolute and not relative units. For example, a designer may specify that text should be 10 pixels in size rather than use a rather less predictable say 70% or 0.7em. The consequence of using absolute units include text which will not resize even when the user selects this option from their browser menu.
So for Auricle's new clothes I've traded design precision for flexibility. All text is specified in relative units so if you don't like the default font or, like me, vision is deteriorating with age, then you can boost the size via your browser. If you boost your text size to too high a level, however, I cannot guarantee the aesthetics will remain the same, but that seems a fair trade off to me.
Also, if you don't like one design then I've offered you a choice via a 'Change Style' menu with the default being the 'White Steel' style. I've also included a 'High Contrast' large size yellow text on black background which may be appropriate for some users with some types of visual impairment. I'll add further styles when I've got some further time. What's illuminating, however, was that I needed to explicitly add a 'Change Style' menu at all, since Mozilla users get this as a standard part of their browser. Since the web browser used by the majority, however, is Internet Explorer then this feature needed to be built in; an illustration, perhaps, of how Internet Explorer has now fallen behind in key functionality.
A key lesson for anyone trying to build in flexibility into their designs is that different web browsers, even modern ones, interpret stylesheets differently. I don't want to explore here which browsers are or are not interpreting standards correctly but a large part of my available time was spent trying to make what appeared fine in Internet Explorer also work with the Mozilla browser. The presentations are not exactly the same but they are as close as I can get at the moment.
Caveats
If you've got a version 4 browser then little of these changes will benefit you and you're going to be looking at a pretty stark landscape. Don't punish yourself like this:) upgrade quickly for a best view of Auricle. I do have a linear text view standing by if any of the styles proves to be a problem for some readers, but it's aesthetically unpleasing.
Keep in mind Auricle is, and will continue to be, a constant work-in-progress which we will strive to improve as time allows.
