'OK I admit it we're hiding content!' blog discussion

Gordon_the_Moron

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Smiles and whistles looking in other direction

Erm no it prints whats open - we're working on it.

Toughy though as if you click print on what loks a 1,500 word article and get 30 pages would you be happy?

Would the answer to that be a "printer friendly version" link which simply opens the page with all the content open?

I find the pages more user friendly the way they are now with expanding sections but using this approach doesn't solve the problem of pages loading slowly. An article with 10 thousand words will take around the same amount of time to load as a 10 thousand word article that originally renders as 1000 words with 5 'hidden' 2000 word sections.

Niemand

I've noticed this scroll-down technology being used in a lot of sites recently, and it does make it easier to navigate, in my opinion. The section header that unrolls is like a topic synopsis, for example: "DO tell your insurer about changes and special circumstances" tells the visitor what the content will be.

I think the best way to go, without a doubt, regarding printing, is to have a Printer Friendly link. I'll tell you why. I have a virtual printer set up in my Windows XP that prints to a PDF file. If I can click on a printer friendly link, I can then print that page to a PDF file and it will be perfect for me to browse through, or print selected pages. For those without such a setup, a Printer Friendly link is still useful: some browsers have a print preview, where you then can select certain pages if you don't want to print them all. Also, a Printer Friendly page will expand a source link into its target link, which a printout of the non-printer friendly page won't do.

slbhill

In general I like it, I feel it makes it easier to wade through the info and keep track of where I am.

When I click on an "open" link, the way the text moves does give a little bit of motion sickness though

grastgirl

I wonder how the new style behaves well with screen readers etc?

[Deleted User]

While I like this style of page better than a giant one with loads of text, they do sometimes irritate me if there's not an option somewhere to "Expand All" or another way view as a single page.

This is particularly the case when you've come from a search engine because Google has assured your that your keyword appears on a page.
The first thing I want to do is Ctrl+f to get my browser to find me where the keyword is mentioned - This is not possible with hidden text.

JimmyTheWig

DrZoops wrote: »

I am curious about the rationale of alternating between red and green on the controls. I just find it a little distracting. And as I'm sure you aware, red-green colour-blindness is relatively common, so a proportion of readers may not perceive the difference anyway.

I'm colourblind (though not generally red-green, unusually) but think that the shades are different enough to not be a problem.
The rationale, however, is that they use green buttons for the "Do"s and red buttons for the "Don't"s. Which alternate.


In general I like it. Makes it much more readable.

One comment, however - The "No spring chicken" image just above this section looks like an advert!

meher

Excellent; and the format is a lot more user friendly, almost interactive when you have an option to pick and choose what you'd like to know more about. It's always a turn off to be bombarded with essays when you click open a page. I'd like to see just highlights and if something interests me, then to click for further info. This is just right. I've also always liked to see more graphs, charts, pictures and flowcharts format although it shouldn't look gimmicky with its overuse.

DrZoops

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Toughy though as if you click print on what loks a 1,500 word article and get 30 pages would you be happy?

In the finest tradition of demanding users , I'd like the option to chose between "Print as displayed (closed sections will not print)" and "Print all (all sections will print)". I suppose a reasonable alternative would be to retain the current "print as displayed" behaviour, but have a prominent "open/display all sections" button which one could use to reveal all before printing for those who do want chapter and verse on paper.

dtaylor84

I too vote for an "expand all" button/link to allow easier printing, in-page searching and (for those of us with an attention span of more than a fraction of a second) reading the full article.

anewman

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Erm no it prints whats open - we're working on it.

You just need to define a CSS file for print format (assuming the site uses CSS, haven't examined the code). Been a bit since I worked with CSS, but I believe you could make the font small, and get rid of the sidebars etc to make any printing more environmentally friendly/conscious.

Edit: the "print" links at the top of the pages appear to work fine (no paper wasted ).