[tdwg] Interesting example of tree navigation

[Shorthouse, David]

> > As Rod suggested, this is pretty old news.
> 
> This begs the question:  has this style of user-interface failed to catch
on
> more widely because of:
> 
> 1) Technological limitations;
> 2) Insufficient creativity and inspiration; or
> 3) Insufficient usability?
> 
> I'm tempted to eliminate #3 on the grounds that I don't think this style
of
> UI has been widespread enough to have been subjected to, and then failed,
> some sort of usability meta-experiment.
> 
> This is not to say that it won't ultimately fail such a meta-experiment --
> just that it hasn't really had a chance to fail it yet.
> 
> Rich

[David Shorthouse wrote:] 
I agree with Rich on this one. The problem with most of these solutions is
that they have been built using Java. Thus, the steep learning curve (#1)
does little for accelerating widespread use and tinkering (#2). Flash/Flex,
though not open source, has the greatest penetration of any browser plug-in.
If I had to put my money somewhere, that's where I'd concentrate my efforts.
What we need is a platform upon which creative developers can "plug into" in
a fashion similar to how Drupal developers create modules. A few
competitions and a very simple, online IDE to create exports for rapid reuse
would help ;)~

David P. Shorthouse
------------------------------------------------------
Department of Biological Sciences
CW-403, Biological Sciences Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB   T6G 2E9
mailto:dps1 at ualberta.ca
http://canadianarachnology.dyndns.org
http://www.spiderwebwatch.org
http://ispiders.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------------