Persistent or Global navigation: Hodges' model

Interfaces are hardly novel these days, even our acknowledging them is a moot point. An interface that is effective will be transparent to the 'user' who is able to get on with the task, the process that is their purpose. For web design, medical devices and

There are many posts on 'interfaces' here on 'Welcome to the QUAD' from 2007 to 2020:

Hodges model: What is it? [2] It’s an interface... 

(Contrast this view, perhaps, with recent posts on Hodges' model as a matrix.)

VerbAtlas 1.0 - Semantic Role Labeling and beyond! c/o Roberto Navigli 

- and the tag 'interfaces' (59).

 

Hodges' model remains an interface to me.

 

The homepage for the website 1998-2015 presents Hodges' model - as the interface - to the user (visitor).

In revisiting (before it visits the charity shop) Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think (2006) reference to persistent navigation or global navigation (p.62) reinforces the fact that humanity needs an interface for health and care. Two qualities that such an interface needs include:

1. Persistence in being Cognitive (isn't everything?) but in the sense here of being simple and so ready-to-mind.
2. Being Global as in Global Health, plus Universal Health Coverage, generic, applicable to all persons, contexts and situations.
   

H5P framework: rich content and applications in Drupal

If I ever get to create a new site devoted to Hodges' model it will be an enjoyable experience. A couple of weeks ago I learned of a framework H5P (also a file format) that can be integrated into Drupal to create content types for educational purposes.

In addition to the archive material on the model, it is important to offer students a means to test their knowledge. This might involve a trial of several modules, including H5P:

H5P is a framework for creating HTML5 content and applications that can be easily moved between web-sites. H5P facilitates sharing and reuse of code used in rich content and applications. H5P also includes an authoring tool so that H5P content may be created and edited using a web-browser.
Organizations and governments spend millions of dollars creating rich Internet content, games and applications. The code used may be shared here on h5p.org as libraries so that others may fill in their own content and reuse the code.

Drupalcon Portland is now underway and I'm looking forward to tuning in live and following sessions, starting with Dries' keynote. This should begin at 7.30pm here in the UK. Drupalcon Munich seems ages ago now (4.7 even longer ..! ) and suddenly Prague is on the horizon.

Additional link:

Quiz Questions Import for Drupal 7 released

A model, HTML5, games, the normal and the pathological

In the UK the powers that be finally recognise the need to introduce children to computer programming. Our future economic viability depends on no less. So many children are too locked into playing games to consider how games are created. New developments including the Raspberry Pi should help change this.

Here's a possible book intro....

While this book is considered an introduction to building HTML5 care applications with Hodges' model a conceptual framework, it is also intended to be a companion guide to help get you started making, and more importantly, finishing your care applications.

Now I'm not seriously proposing that a care application could be written in HTML5 (am I?). In trying to encourage a teen game player to try game programming, I came across a sentence in Jesse Freeman's short book Introducing HTML5 Game Development which I've revamped above.

The book is about Impact (not open source), a javascript framework. Skimming through the text's potential as a present, you appreciate the potential of games and simulations in health care.

In health care we talk about levels of care. In Impact there is Weltmeister a level editor.

The reader is also encouraged:

"Think of the canvas as an image, that we can bitmap data into." p.8.

There are maps: background and collision. There are Classes, Person is an inevitable example. Admittedly there is also a zombie, but then one of the domains of Hodges' model is frequently described as being populated by zombies (well, look at their movement and the fact that they are non-living).

There's talk of a GDD - a game design document. There is a need for a high concept, plus an asset pipeline, and if the design includes complex levels the likely need for a background, middle ground and foreground. If Life is about sprites running ragged around levels of game play, Death is in there too.

Additional link: Normal and Pathological

Drupal ScienceCamp Cambridge 20-21st Jan 2012

Two weeks ago Drupal ScienceCamp was a great success thanks to the organisers and sponsors. There were about 60 attendees with a European flavour too. Being a Science Park we had to circumvent the fence, the alternate access gates closed over the weekend. The three of us who left the hotel soon became six ... as we walked around to the very smart venue - Napp Pharmaceuticals Limited.

On the Saturday I attended sessions on responsive design, Drupal modules, Less CSS (at this point I wish I could have split in two Drupal search and Solr Wizardry had very positive comments), From flipcharts to Drupal Features, and Migration, upgrading and moving house. All very helpful.

Sunday was spontaneously self-organising. People offered to deliver sessions and meetings in a BoF - birds of a feather format, others requested the things they were seeking. Whether a sign of my time in Drupal [v. 4.7], or possibly Drupal's ever increasing diffusion or both; seven of us gathered around mental health and disability.
More on this to follow.  ...

Drupalcon London - Day 4 Thur. A Keynote heralds Wedding Bells & Fashion

The final keynote Designing the Sustainable Web was delivered by two guys gents Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson, they teach interactive design at the University of Ulster at Belfast.

The Web Standardistas covered design, fonts and resources both online and books. Like Tom Standages' presentation they talked history. I think I lapsed into an awake, but non-note taking mode; but on their site they provide resources. There's a full and good review on Ubelly. Given the way the web struggles to re-invent rip-the-paper with grids still preeminent in design the books mentioned inc. HTML5 for Web Designers, Responsive Web Design and Ordering Disorder. There's hours of reading and visual delight at http://www.thegridsystem.org/ and Subtraction.

Two things I did spot in the keynote; one a site design, it was quite minimal on the graphics side - apart from a black header with text logo - but using fonts + and as described information architecture to emphasize the content and indeed the overall semantics of the page (and site). I must catch the video again. The other was a slide drawing on newspaper design and proportions that makes me wonder about switching things around.

After the keynote it was another look for me at mobile and theming: Adaptive, Responsive, Mobile First and Drupal Theming for the Future with HTML5, CSS3 and Omega. This session included a surprise for a young lady - a marriage proposal. Congratulations! The Omega theme was a topic at BarCamp in Leeds and I've looked at it for the DJ site. There I've settled on Black Piano. Omega is definitely worth a revisit. Many visitors to the old site arrive c/o mobile devices (possibly as an example of poor design?). Mobile first! indeed.

The Organics Groups session commenced with the lift pitch and the 2nd Drupal fashion show. Organic groups and panels make a lot of sense for a Hodges' model site. The model is a grid, the domains are panels. The links pages are currently tables. So... (whatyawaiting4)! Somebody mentioned - their first Drupalcon - that with this being my 4th a lot of the session content should be familiar.

The documentation BoF did not quite go as planned over dinner time - at least for me. This is a vital project as support, help and documentation does matter in people voting with their feet. I think the project will get a real fillip as some higher level dependencies kick-in and the potential of DITA.

As I write this it's Friday the last day and the code sprint. I'm not coding, but helping review an issue associated with #drupalEdu. (So not coding but still learning and trying to help a little.) This tag covers Drupal training, mentoring, support and general education - K12, Higher Education...

It's been great here in London. Heading North soon. I'll see if I can add a photo or two over the w/e. Tomorrow I will unpack and check the PC which has arrived home apparently, now with working graphics cards? Also to sort hosting. Liverpool on Sunday: the Matthew St Festival. 

Drupalcon London - Day 2 Tues. Dries's keynote & HTML5

The first day of Drupalcon London 'proper' is done and there is still so much to take in (but I am staying in the kitchen!). Dries' keynote reflected the current state of Drupal in contrast to the previous European gatherings which have really focussed on the next version. Last year that was only five months away. Dries did attend to Drupal 8, but maybe two years or so till release is a helpful breathing space.

In Drupal 8 attention is being given to specific scorecards and other strategies to manage core (gates) to assure quality and co-ordination. I'm pleased to see HTML5/CSS3 up there as a priority. Last week in .net magazine I read an article (p.104-108) by Jen Simmons on HTML5 in Drupal and some of the challenges in fully updating a Drupal 7 site to this latest standard.

There were many other great sessions. Already I've strayed from 'my' schedule posted previously. After speaking to people I must check Display Suite, and Entities - the latter which I attended. While there is still lots happening re. job and 'home' after four (European) Drupalcons it's high time for me to find some cheap yet cheerful hosting to experiment more meaningfully. I've a (very) basic Drupal 7 brochure and enquiry site, trying to finish and host that will finally bring HD to this experience for me. Anyway must go - another keynote 0900...

Mind & Body in Markup: (Book review to follow)

I am writing up my reading of From A to <A> Keywords of Markup, Bradley Dilger and Jeff Rice, editors, University of Minnesota Press for the Journal of Community Informatics.

In reading the text I noticed how Cartesianism is alive and well not only in Hodges' model but in HTML markup also:

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

<HEAD>	<BODY>
narrative	protocol

Yes, I mean 'MIND' really...

Amongst the various aspects of markup dealt with in communication and media, the discussion on narrative forms and protocol also emphasize the SOCIOLOGICAL and POLITICAL (care) domains.

Drupal musings 17: PHPNW 2010, HTML5, DrupalCamp Edinburgh

PHPNW 2010 on the w/e 9th - 10th October was well worth attending. Sessions for me after the keynote included:

Let your toolchain set you free

Debugging – Rules and Tools

The curious case of php|architect

Designing HTTP URLs and REST Interfaces

All the sessions where very informative, but the latter proved the most interesting. I noticed REST interfaces kept coming up at the Ruby conferences in '08 and '09 and also in reading about Ajax. So David Zuelke's session was very interesting both with his critique of how REST is applied (twitter) and his humour. I look f/w to the videos appearing.

A dinner date with friends meant I had to leave early and so I missed the prize draw. The past week started with a smile when Emma Parker, PHPNW10 Events Team emailed to say I'd won a book in the prize draw. Last Thursday the book arrived:

Pro HTML5 Programming

Magic! Thanks to the conference team and Apress.


I have just learned about DrupalCamp Edinburgh on the 30th and have registered.

Drupal musings 7: HTML5, CSS3 ... & Mr Hodges meets Drupal

At Manchester airport in May I noticed Web Design Essentials (WDE). Reasons of cost £14.99 and weight meant it was put back on the news stand. The content was excellent! Back in the UK a week later, no sign of it in the supermarket. I found a copy this week at WH Smiths and made the 'investment' - a belated holiday treat.

This is gold mine of nuggets on HTML5, design - wireframes, user experience (UX), fonts and typography:

http://www.font-face.com/
http://fontdeck.com/

- personas, CSS3, jQuery and much more. Now I think about it UX has been around for quite a while, it's a sure sign of how web design has matured such that practitioners can and must focus on the experience. There's another blog post there contrasting UX in web design with UX in health services. Reading about the use of personas in design and planning for a site might also deserve a specific post. As WDE indicates there are companies dedicated to UX. I do not have that luxury and yet I do have to define my initial target audience and their anticipated experience.

The web design related listing I maintain at LINKS I (Intrapersonal) are being updated as a result of the leads in WDE.

Through the scheduling and poll services of Doodle (thanks Chris) and with the Drupal NW England list I'm checking on which day in the autumn - November - is best for a group of volunteers to help jump start the new site. Everything is sorted now for Drupalcon next month.

Drupal + Being and Time

I'm continuing to explore Drupal amid some reading, blocks, menus, content.... Searching for content to practice upon, I checked one of the old (1997-8) introductory pages - Brian's course notes - and found my closing sentences were utter drivel! [Well it was a surprise to me.]

Although the prospect of a winter through spring clean is daunting, it will also prove an exciting completely about-time refresh.

Drupal is forcing me to do things I should have done ages ago:

• Separate the content from styling;
• Separate the static (historic) content from dynamic;
• Review the graphics;
• Thinking about audience(s);
• - and related content and solutions (archive, computer aided learning, prototyping).

Don't panic about the colour scheme in the screen shot below, this one allows authorised users to alter the colour, font size and width (see the very top line). Accessibility is a must this time, plus printer friendly content. The flexibility is quite amazing. There are errors on the page illustrated, the theme is not compatible with the latest Drupal version; but it works. I've gone through my own introductory page and stripped out the FONTS, TABLES and other superfluous HTML tags. What is a real conundrum is the front page.... The A,B,C I mentioned before may come to the rescue as 'this site' will just feature static content at first. So all I need is a menu in the sidebar. Users won't need to register, which may require a multi site config to develop the open source collaborative book.

It's cool to find there is a version of jQuery in Drupal. With a bit of PHP code I can fade text onto the screen - like many other sites and one of many effects to learn (and use sensibly!). Keith's DOM scripting will also finally come in handy through the dark months. I can't wait for the next NW England Drupal meet, it seems ages since the Cornerhouse get together. I'd put the modules and themes in the default directory, oops - that's sorted now. Need to explore content creation, the theme files and templates (CSS!) and the CCK (content construction kit) and views modules. Aarrrgh! Must also dream and think, dream and think, dream:think ....



Have a great week!