pcplantdb

[John Schinnerer <john@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

> A couple of things on the front-end (web) front...
> Chad, would it be possible to wrap the plant descriptions in a few more 
> tags?

OK, time to start designing that API we were talking about back when...!

The data engine should not be producing any platform-specific markup 
(e.g. HTML, etc.) - just returning the requested data via the API to the 
front end code, which then does whatever the front-end designer wants to 
produce the user-accessible content.

> It would really allow a lot more flexibility on how things get displayed.

Actually, the flexibility comes in clean separation of content, logic 
and presentation.  Let's get on it...

If we've agreed (have we?) that XML will be our data transfer markup, 
that's a place to start.  Even if we haven't that's still a place to 
start... ;-)

> Also, on tags like the plant uses, should we perhaps use a 
> (tooltip-like) popup to hold the description, instead of a link to a new 
> page?

That would be one option for one or more front ends to implement.

> There are some pure CSS methods, and a few javascript methods as 
> well to accomplish this.

Javascript limits accessibility.  No problem using it in some front end 
implementation, as long as there are other ways to access the 
information that don't depend on javascript.

Gotta be careful with the fancier CSS stuff (esp. CSS2 stuff) because 
browser support is not consistent - think I already sent you some links 
to resources for checking on that - if not see webstandards.org for 
resource links.

cheers,
John S.



--

John Schinnerer - MA, Whole Systems Design
------------------------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Whole Systems Design Services
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http://eco-living.net