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Subject:RE: Using tables for content From:"Janoff, Steven" <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- ga -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:32:21 -0700
On Thursday, October 24, 2013 11:13, Steve Janoff wrote:
> At one job we had product web pages that explained a procedure in a two-column tabular format with the step on the left and the associated figure on the right. That worked really well both for the authors and the users, according to the feedback we got.
In looking at it now, the thumbnails are too small to convey meaningful information, and either should be larger or should link to their full-size counterparts so you can get some context.
Since this is a procedure of sorts I would have preferred to see step numbers.
But I thought it was a good idea at the time. The writer who conceived it was our long-timer in the department and had a bit of a design background too. It's not something that hasn't been done before but it's pretty nice.
Of course, thumbnail-action as the pairing for the table is much different from action-result, and I believe the latter has more cognitive "heft." Although, the information in the thumbnails is certainly meaningful (if large enough).
Note no visible borders. I might experiment with internal borders here. The underlying code was a table layout for this structure, although I'm sure you could accomplish the same thing with div's.
I also would have added a little more padding between the two columns just for nicer spacing.
But I still think it was a nice idea, overall, and a pleasing presentation.
Steve
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