implement better top-level navigation

[paregorios]

This ticket has been split off from #288.

[paregorios]

Resolution of this ticket is a blocker for #288.

[paregorios]

Background and current behavior

The DCLP project has introduced new elements into the top-level navigation in order to facilitate access to DCLP content via multiple thematic facets. A new link ("DCLP") has been added to the main menu bar, as is clear from comparison of these screen captures:

But there's an additional nuance to the modifications. In papyri.info and in litpap.info, each of the "browse" links (DDBDP, HGV, and APIS) is a simple hyperlink: one clicks through it to the corresponding page. But the "DCLP" browse link has two modalities:

1. a simple click-through of the "DCLP" link takes one to a DCLP browse page constructed like those for the other collections (i.e., a clickable hierarchy of series and volumes, ultimately terminating in a search result set),
2. but mouse-over without a click produces a pop-up dialog box (@jcowey and the Heidelberg team have been using the term "dropdown" for this affordance) that provides three additional link options as shown in the following screen capture:

Each of the links in the dropdown take one to a custom-generated DCLP thematic index page:

• browse by series
• browse by TM number
• browse by authors and works

The interaction flow can be diagrammed as follows:

wherein reddish-brown elements are those DCLP retains unchanged from papyri.info and the blue elements are those newly-added by DCLP.

stay tuned for additional comments on inadequacies with the current approach and a suggestion of an alternative

[paregorios]

Inadequacies, concerns, and suggested resolutions

1. "ddbdp browse" and "dclp browse" overlap

When one clicks through to the main "DDBDP" or the main "DCLP" browse pages, one is presented with a list of series represented in the corresponding collection. One then selects the link corresponding to the series of interest, yielding another page listing the volumes of that series that are represented in the corresponding collection. BGU is a good example: DDBDP takes in 20 volumes whereas DCLP takes in only five. But then one clicks through the link for the volume of interest and finds oneself at the standard search page, with the series and volume pre-selected. What's not preselected is the collection, such that the the results of clicking through the following link chains are exactly the same (i.e., they include the union set of BGU 2 content found in DDBDP and DCLP):

• browse ddbdp => bgu => bgu 2
• browse dclp => bgu => bgu 2

Note that the URL one gets for the final step in each of the above browse paths is identical to the other: http://litpap.info/search?SERIES=bgu&VOLUME=2

recommendation: include a query parameter that differentiates between DCLP and DDBDP at the final step (related issue: #264).

2. "dclp browse" vs. "browse by series"

At present, given the above information architecture, there are two browse-by-series affordances provided by the DCLP interface: one by clicking through the "DCLP" link and the other by activating the "dropdown" on that link and then selecting "browse by series." I submit that this dichotomy is not only redundant, but likely to confuse and frustrate users. We should try to fix the "dclp browse" as discussed in section 1 (above) and get rid of the dropdown's "browse by series" function entirely. Indeed, @m-k-r calls out the dropdown's "browse by series" function in #288 as a quick-and-dirty workaround for the overlap/redundancy described above.

recommendation: eliminate the dropdown-accessed DCLP "browse by series" affordance.

3. DCLP's "browse by TM number" vs. the existing TM-number lookup dialog

Core papyri.info functionality provides a TM lookup dialog via a link in the main navigation:

The added "browse by TM number" functionality on the DCLP dropdown seems redundant by comparison.

recommendation: eliminate the dropdown-accessed DCLP "browse by TM number" affordance.

4. DCLP "authors and works"

This is truly unique functionality and an essential axis of access for the literary papyri and surely should be retained.

recommendations:

• Either eliminate the dropdown behavior and make "authors and works" a separate main link or eliminate the click-through behavior and modify the contents of the drop-down to be "browse by series" and "browse by authors and works"
• Eliminate the links to dclpxsltbox and github now found on the "authors and works" page, since these are artifacts of development effort

The above recommendations are reflected in the following architecture diagrams:

Option 1 (eliminate dropdown functionality entirely)

Option 2 (use dropdown as the only function on the DCLP link)

[paregorios]

I invite comments from @rogerbagnall @rla2118 @jcowey @HolgerEssler and @jds15 on the recommendations laid out above. If we can get consensus on what you want to see, then we can move on to resolving the technical issues, including those in #288.

cc @hcayless @ryanfb @wsalesky @m-k-r

[rogerbagnall]

Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't see in either recommended architecture an option for the user to decide whether to be looking for only DDbDP content, only DCLP content, or both. I thought we had talked about this at an early stage. Or is this applicable only to search? Recommendation 1 above does seem to apply this to browse, but I don't see how it fits into the diagram.

[paregorios]

@rogerbagnall search across/within collections is addressed in a separate ticket (#264) as indicated parenthetically and telegraphically above, sub "Inadequacies..." sub "1" sub "recommendations".

Can I get thumbs up or thumbs down on my suggestions above from the papyrologists ( @rogerbagnall @rla2118 @jcowey @HolgerEssler and @jds15 ) ? We're running out of runway to address this issue.

[rogerbagnall]

I think I prefer the simplicity of option 1. The other recommendations seem OK to me.

[HolgerEssler]

I prefer option 1 as well.

[paregorios]

@hcayless Since I know you're working on the general technical problems underlying browse and search re-integration, I'm assigning this ticket to you so you are aware of what the users would like to see eventually.

[Edelweiss]

Option 1 already implemented in litpap.info