GUI Constraints
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Research- and Metadata Handling Corporate & Interface Design (under Rework) |
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Introduction[edit]
This page should give a short overview on browser-related requirements. As a rough approach it was decided that eSciDoc solutions need to support browsers with respect to layout consistency only 3 years back. Older browsers like IE 5,5.5 or FF1.x should offer the functionality but may be limited regarding the GUI display. The GUI constraints are set up to develop all GUIs against a clear target. This doesn't mean, Solutions benefit from now on. As far as GUI V2 is implemented and tested, these constraints will be fulfilled.
Supported Browsers[edit]
| name | version | release date | used by[1] | market share[1] | Layout supported | Functionality available | Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet Explorer | 5.01 | 1999/12 | 34.9 % | 0.6% | not required | yes | Not available |
| 5.5 | 2000/06 | <1% | not required | yes | Occasionally, rough Walkthrough | ||
| 6.0 | 2001/10 | 10.8% | yes | yes | only client logic | ||
| 7.0 | 2006/10 | 23.7% | yes | yes | only client logic | ||
| 8.0 | 2009 | <1% | not testable|yes | yes | rough Walkthrough | ||
| Firefox | 1.x | 2005/12 | 39.6 % | <1% | not required | yes | Occasionally, rough Walkthrough |
| 2.0 | 2006/10 | 5.1% | yes | yes | only client logic | ||
| 3.0 | 2008/07 | 28.4% | yes | yes | only client logic | ||
| 4.0 | 2011 | 0% | not testable | yes | Not yet possible | ||
| Safari | 2.0 | 2005/04 | 2.9% | 2.8% | not testable|yes | yes | Not yet possible |
| 3.0 | 2007/06 | yes | yes | Occasionally, rough Walkthrough | |||
| Opera | 9.x | 2006/06 | 0.96% | 0.5% | not required | yes | Occasionally, rough Walkthrough |
Functionality for older Browsers like Opera 7.x, Firefox 1.x should be available but will not be evaluated.
Required web techniques[edit]
| name | version | release date | activation[2] | required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cascading Style Sheets | 1.0 | 12/1996 | 100%[3] | required |
| 2.0 | 05/1998 | specials only[4] | ||
| 3.0 | -[5] | not required | ||
| Cookies | - | - | 98.5% | required[6] |
| JavaScript | 1.5 | 06/2002 | 94,0%[7][8] | required |
| 1.6 | 11/2005 | undefined | ||
| 1.7 | 07/2006 | undefined | ||
| 1.8 | 12/2007 | not required | ||
| Java Plugin | 1.3 | 05/2000 | 99,6%[9] | not required |
| 1.4 | 02/2002 | not required | ||
| 1.5 | 09/2004 | not required | ||
| 1.6 | 12/2006[10] | not required |
Screen Resolution Optimization[edit]
| Screen Resolution | used by[11] | optimized for |
|---|---|---|
| 800 / 600 | 2.9% | scroll only[12] |
| 1024 / 768 | 44.2% | optimized |
| 1152 / 864 | 4.0% | optimized |
| 1280 / 1024 | 35.8% | optimized |
| 1600 / 1200 | 2.5% | optimized |
Enlargeable font size[edit]
The font size can be enlarged by the user without limitations to content, readability or GUI design within the following range:
| font/box size steps | Text | Application Layout |
|---|---|---|
| larger | fully readable | minimum divergence |
| 4x - 8x | fully readable | minimum divergence |
| 1x - 4x | fully readable | minimum divergence |
Graceful degradation[edit]
This is only a rough overview on what should be supported. For a more precise definition of requirements (BITV) see: GUI Accessibility
Degradation of Navigation
The eSciDoc GUI makes use of skip links[13], important to users equipped with screen readers and text browsers or conservative browser settings. The skip links allow to jump to navigation or content.
Degradation of Style (CSS)
| Style | Usability | Specialities |
|---|---|---|
| No application layout | The eSciDoc GUI shows all relevant controls. All Controls can be operated properly. All HTML Elements are lined up in structured manner and can still be identified |
Degradation of Java Script
| Style | Usability | Specialities |
|---|---|---|
| Some controls (input) are set back to browser default but application layout is kept | Each control can be operated properly |
Media Types[edit]
| Type | Style | Usability | Specialities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigation is not printed | Content is readable | None | |
| Mobile | Device/Browser dependent (textmode via CSS degradation) | Device/Browser dependent | None |
Remark[edit]
Browser compatibility and accessibility of the PubMan user interface[edit]
Please keep in mind always to use a browser version which is up-to-date. It's release date should never date back more than 5 years (at least). Besides security aspects a current browser provides the ease of use modern web interfaces provide.
Due to the implementation of the underlying system older browsers may not support the browser back button properly (IE6) and Java Script is mandatory to run PubMan.
For browser compatibility and accessibility of user interfaces built by the user interface engineering team, please visit:
http://colab.mpdl.mpg.de/mediawiki/GUI_Constraints#Browser_compatibility_and_accessibility_of_the_PubMan_user_interface http://colab.mpdl.mpg.de/mediawiki/GUI_Accessibility
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 share according to the edoc webstats (march 2009)
- ↑ percentage of users with activated technique according to www.webhits.de (march 2008)
- ↑ although all modern browsers support at least CSS1, the implementation level and the level of support differs
- ↑ although CSS 2.0 is not explicitly required its support will enable some rare extra features
- ↑ still work in progress
- ↑ cookies support is required for system login
- ↑ activation share according to w3schools.com
- ↑ JavaScript version 1.5 is used by 99.4% of all users with activated JavaScript according to www.webhits.de (march 2008)
- ↑ although www.webhits.de gives a 99.6% activation level, it also states, that only 12.4% of users have an java plugin
- ↑ there is still no regular implementation of Java 1.6 for Mac OSX yet (march 2008)
- ↑ usage in germany according to www.webhits.de (march 2008)
- ↑ on monitors with too small resolutions the solutions will be viewable via horizontal scrolling only
- ↑ Skip links are links to another part of the page that allow visitors to navigate their way around a web document, without having to cycle through a huge list of links. Source: http://juicystudio.com/article/skip-links.php