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I find feedback mechanisms that allow readers to react to individual parts of text to be useful, especially when the text is of a technical nature. What I disl

by jkbr 14y ago

I find feedback mechanisms that allow readers to react to individual parts of text to be useful, especially when the text is of a technical nature. What I dislike about this particular implementation is the UI: You don't know what happens when you click the button until you have actually clicked it (the same problem has for example the 'kudos' widget on Svbtle[0]). Also the button is slightly obtrusive. Something more subtle with an explanation on hover or a confirmation dialog would IMO do a better job. A good example of something similar is (the now obsolete) Django Book[1] where people can comment on any paragraph. [0] e.g. http://500hats.com/late-bloomer/ http://500hats.com/late-bloomer/ [1] http://www.djangobook.com/en/2.0/chapter05/ http://www.djangobook.com/en/2.0/chapter05/

polyfractal 14y ago
I really like that comment feature on Django Book. Are there any drop-in widgets that can accomplish that, or would it require some custom coding? Edit: Found a few (for wordpress anyway): http://digress.it/ http://digress.it/ https://fascinator.usq.edu.au/trac/wiki/Annotate https://fascinator.usq.edu.au/trac/wiki/Annotate http://www.futureofthebook.org/commentpress/ http://www.futureofthebook.org/commentpress/ Edit 2: I take that back...these plugins attempt to restructure your blog into a book. So they really aren't the same =(
McMoop 14y ago
The same thing is done in the online version of Real World Haskell and is used fairly effectively by the readers to share solutions and clarify concepts. http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/getting-started.html http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/getting-started.html I believe this input was used in revising the book for the print version.
- tikhonj 14y ago
  It is used effectively. Of course, programmers being programmers, it's also used to point out errors and typos. I've also read a bunch of good comments about choosing clearer wording for some parts. If I was writing a blog (and I'll start one one of these days :P), I would definitely want free, crowd-sourced editing that way!

by jkbr 14y ago

polyfractal 14y ago

I really like that comment feature on Django Book. Are there any drop-in widgets that can accomplish that, or would it require some custom coding? Edit: Found a few (for wordpress anyway): http://digress.it/ http://digress.it/ https://fascinator.usq.edu.au/trac/wiki/Annotate https://fascinator.usq.edu.au/trac/wiki/Annotate http://www.futureofthebook.org/commentpress/ http://www.futureofthebook.org/commentpress/ Edit 2: I take that back...these plugins attempt to restructure your blog into a book. So they really aren't the same =(

McMoop 14y ago

The same thing is done in the online version of Real World Haskell and is used fairly effectively by the readers to share solutions and clarify concepts. http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/getting-started.html http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/getting-started.html I believe this input was used in revising the book for the print version.

tikhonj 14y ago
It is used effectively. Of course, programmers being programmers, it's also used to point out errors and typos. I've also read a bunch of good comments about choosing clearer wording for some parts. If I was writing a blog (and I'll start one one of these days :P), I would definitely want free, crowd-sourced editing that way!