I know that no one here has anything better to do with their time, so if you can be arsed with taking a look then I promise to listen carefully to any comments.
What it is, right...
It's a kind of eBook reader, but it works in web browsers (including smartphone browsers), and you can post your own texts really easily. You can keep them private if you want, or make them available for everyone to read.
The Unique Selling Point is that it is possible to link to a precise word within a PlumeZap text.
Does any of this make sense? Would anyone like to try using it?
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
First thoughts:
Why is there a 51 next to the "next" arrow.
When I click on that arrow, I arrive at a page that says "PlumeZap does not use traditional pages or numbers. Instead, each text displays its first and last word numbers." I have no idea what that means. Edit: I've just worked out what it means. It means that page of text has 51 words in it. Or 277 words, or whatever the number is. Why is that of interest, or use?
I had to type out that quote above; I couldn't select it from the page. Is that on purpose? If so, why?
I clearly don't know what this is meant to be for. How and why is it different from (or better than) a normal website for reading stuff?
Bear in mind that I don't have a fancy mobile phone, or an e-reader.
Other than that, it's nice and clean.
Also:
quote:Originally posted by dang65: And here is word number 530 -
That links to a page of text, not to a single word. Or is word 530 the first word of that text? (It would seem so.) So who then decides how long the text is on that page? As in, why does it end at word 723, and why is that relevant/important/handy/nifty?
[ 24.06.2011, 10:38: Message edited by: mart ]
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
This is always interesting to hear. I've showed this to a handful of people so far, and every one says they have no idea what the numbers mean. Because I do understand it, this always surprises me.
The explanation is:
quote:PlumeZap does not use traditional pages or page numbers. Instead, each text view displays its first and last word numbers.
I need to find a better way to explain that, but what it comes down to is that books use page numbers, but the page size can change at any time here, depending on the browser window or mobile screen size.
Therefore, PlumeZap uses word numbers instead of page numbers. Every time you 'turn a page', you will see the first and last word number for that page (hence the 1 on the left hand side of the first page).
It's supposed to improve the reading experience for long texts, where you have to keep scrolling up and down in a browser. This is more like an eBook reader. It's meant to be easier to follow than constantly darting your eyes up and down which you have to do with scrolling.
But the big selling point is that you can directly pin-point a precise starting point, to the exact word. This has potential for shared texts, or for commenting on or quoting a specific passage in a long book, or for collaborative writing.
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
quote:Originally posted by mart: Also:
quote:Originally posted by dang65: And here is word number 530 -
That links to a page of text, not to a single word. Or is word 530 the first word of that text? (It would seem so.) So who then decides how long the text is on that page? As in, why does it end at word 723, and why is that relevant/important/handy/nifty?
Yes, 530 is the start word. The length of the 'page' is decided by the space on the screen. Try resizing the browser window. You should see the same start word, but the end word will vary.
I'm wondering if I should hide the numbers and just have them appear when the user hovers their mouse over the buttons. It does seem to cause confusion.
[ 24.06.2011, 10:46: Message edited by: dang65 ]
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
(Thanks for these comments Mart.)
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
quote:Originally posted by dang65: Try resizing the browser window. You should see the same start word, but the end word with vary.
Oh yeah. That's quite neat, I think. Is that quite clever programming?
quote:Maybe I should hide the numbers and just have them appear when you hover your mouse over the buttons.
Why would there even be a need/use for the number of words to appear at all, even when hovering with the mouse?
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
(Am still curious why you can't select/highlight the text with the mouse/cursor/arrow keys.)
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
quote:Originally posted by mart: (Am still curious why you can't select/highlight the text with the mouse/cursor/arrow keys.)
Ah, yes, this is because the cursor (or finger swipe on a touchscreen) is detected for turning pages. It can't select text as well. It is possible to access the whole text by clicking on VIEW CONTROLS > EDIT TEXT and then take it out of the textarea there, like posting on TMO.
This is targeted at readers really, if you want to quote something, just link to it:
[ 24.06.2011, 10:55: Message edited by: dang65 ]
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
Oh yes, with the edit button it's very easy. That's fine.
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
quote:Originally posted by mart: Why would there even be a need/use for the number of words to appear at all, even when hovering with the mouse?
Well, this is to do with quoting and linking really. It's the equivalent to having page numbers in a book.
I can say to you, "Go to word 230" and you can jump to that word (see VIEW CONTROLS > NAVIGATION) and you will see a page beginning with the sentence "To show a list of chapters, click on the title area at the top of the screen."
So, in the case of The Raven, if I wanted to link to the text starting with the line "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!..., quite near the end, how would I go about it?
Edit: I'd use the navigation button, okay. And then link to plumezap/edgarallenpoe/theraven#1135, or whatever the links end up looking like.
[ 24.06.2011, 11:44: Message edited by: mart ]
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
OK, starting from scratch, where you don't even know which text is The Raven:
1. VIEW CONTROLS > FIND RANDOM TEXTS TO READ 2. FILTER SEARCH 3. Enter 'raven' in the TITLE field 4. Click SEARCH 5. Click on the result button for The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (i.e. the only result at the moment)
Now you have The Raven open in front of you.
6. VIEW CONTROLS > NAVIGATION 7. Enter 'prophet' in the SEARCH TEXT field 8. Click GO 9. Cycle through the results (there are four prophets in the poem)
The URL is continuously modified as you navigate through a text. The above link translates as Text 5 Word 1135.
You can also save a bookmark at that point (VIEW CONTROLS - MY BOOKMARKS) so you can carry on reading somewhere else later.
[ 24.06.2011, 12:03: Message edited by: dang65 ]
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
Right, but presumably all texts aren't going to just have a number, are they? As in, 5 for The Raven. Surely you would add subdomains, or whatever the term is. Or not. I don't know.
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
Don't intend to. Intention is to keep the URLs ultra-simple and short, though I must admit that a longer URL does help to identify what you're being pointed at. Might have to have a think about that, yes, good point.
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
At the moment, it's a bit like a YouTube link. I've been kind of thinking of this as a YouTube for text. You know, while I've been daydreaming and that.
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
Yeah, I suppose you need to work out what it's actually for, or who would use it and why, and then engineer everything based on that, while trying to envisage every other possibility that could occur or it could be used for, or useful for, or something.
Posted by Ringo (Member # 47) on :
It's an interesting concept, and I think you mentioned it on here a while ago and nobody really got it. Thing is though, seeing a lot of epub2 and future epub3 documents, which is an open format viewable by all sorts of document readers, you have the ability to manipulate text independantly of page numbers anyway. It seems like a lot of what this does is just repetition of that idea, which is already in use, and doesn't necessarily allow for the inclusion of multimedia content in the way that modern eBooks do.
I suppose being web based it allows you to link to text, but presumably that then relies on you having a large amount of content uploaded, which then causes some issues with publishing rights? I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I'd have thought it would have to be a service you'd have to charge for, which surely negates any benefit you might have had from being able to link to text. Which I'm still not sure is really of any particular benefit over simply linking to pages.
I'm not saying it's a bad system, I'm just not really sure what it's for. And in terms of the way that structured content is being delivered on ebook readers these days, seems perhaps slightly behind the curve. Sorry though, I don't like saying negative things about something someone's worked hard on. At least it's not a van for downloading MP3s, though eh?
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
Fair comments, Ringo. Yes, I have mentioned it on here before. I actually built a version of this for Google Wave a couple of years ago, but I've made massive changes to it since then, and I've also concentrated on an interface which is as clean as I can get it for smartphone browsers.
I have looked at ePub documents, and clearly they are the standard at the moment for eReader software, but my goal was a) to make publication extremely simple and immediate - no complicated XML formatting, or uploading of files - and b) to make an interface which would work across as many browsers and platforms as possible - no installation of eReader apps, no synchronisation or complicated purchasing process, and no multi-media, just text for reading.
I can understand the excitement about electronic publishing, but I do feel there is some wheel re-inventing going on with a lot of this stuff - what they're ending up with is web pages, what with the colourful layouts and pictures and videos and animations. It's brilliant for magazine content, but there is a definite demand for plain and simple text.
Following your comments, and Mart's and others', I am having a big rethink on my obsession with jumping to a specific location in the text. I've definitely let myself get carried away with the cleverness of that feature (it really hasn't been done anywhere else, and I've even seen a few people say that it's impossible to do). I need to back away from that feature and let people discover it if they go looking for it.
I think what I really need to concentrate on is getting content on there and getting people to start reading it. Once they do that they will hopefully start poking around the controls, seeing what options they have, and then they might try posting their own content... maybe.
It has to be successful one way or another. I'm totally relying on it to fund the MP3 van business.
Posted by dang65 (Member # 102) on :
Right, I've dumped the word numbers and it's a very liberating feeling. I've still got a reference to them discretely placed under the progress bar where they'll hopefully only be noticed by people that want to go looking for them.
I'll go and edit the explanatory text so it doesn't explain that madness any more.
Thanks Mart and Ringo. :-)
Posted by New Way Of Decay (Member # 106) on :
Dang I think you've genuinely stumbled on something good here. I mean, this is a nice neat way of getting people to publish their own ebooks in a way.