Mouse-over Footnotes

I love using the online version of the scriptures. There is just one thing that I think could be better, the footnotes. When we want to use the footnotes, you can click on the link and be taken to them (which, thankfully still has the verse), but when I am reading the scriptures, I prefer just glancing at footnotes quickly to see if I'm interested in it or not quickly.

The current setup makes it a bit out of my way to see what they are, and I think it would be a lot better if somehow you could have the footnote come up with a link to the TG or whatever it references with a simple mouseover command (maybe designating words with footnotes either the way it's currently being used, or a dased underline). The coding wouldn't be hard, but maybe the set up for it is.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there.

This could probably be implemented with an AJAX type rollover menu where you could hover in the menu to keep it open or click inside to keep it open until you click a close link/button.

kgthunder wrote:This could probably be implemented with an AJAX type rollover menu where you could hover in the menu to keep it open or click inside to keep it open until you click a close link/button.

I like that idea. I think that could be a really nice enhancement.

You could also probably make the rollover panel have the actual text of the footnote, complete with links and maybe a few of the menu options ("Open in new tab", "Open in this tab", "window", etc.) that would be in the same menu you speak of.

ajames wrote:I love using the online version of the scriptures. There is just one thing that I think could be better, the footnotes. When we want to use the footnotes, you can click on the link and be taken to them (which, thankfully still has the verse), but when I am reading the scriptures, I prefer just glancing at footnotes quickly to see if I'm interested in it or not quickly.

The current setup makes it a bit out of my way to see what they are, and I think it would be a lot better if somehow you could have the footnote come up with a link to the TG or whatever it references with a simple mouseover command (maybe designating words with footnotes either the way it's currently being used, or a dased underline). The coding wouldn't be hard, but maybe the set up for it is.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there.

That is a really good idea! It would make it much more usable.

Tom

I'd like to see some color coding of the footnotes. When I read, I'm most interested in the alternative interpretation such as alternative Greek translation or the JST version. Footnotes that link to other scriptures are generally less interesting unless I'm really in "research" mode.

So if all the GR, "OR" and JST footnotes had color separate from the others, I'd be happy. I don't need a different color for each one, just a color to know it's a quick alternate wording note rather then a cross-reference.

RussellHltn wrote:I'd like to see some color coding of the footnotes. When I read, I'm most interested in the alternative interpretation such as alternative Greek translation or the JST version. Footnotes that link to other scriptures are generally less interesting unless I'm really in "research" mode.

So if all the GR, "OR" and JST footnotes had color separate from the others, I'd be happy. I don't need a different color for each one, just a color to know it's a quick alternate wording note rather then a cross-reference.

I agree that color coding footnotes would be a nice enhancement. When I read in less of a "research" mode, I agree that those same footnotes you mention are the most interesting to me. However, I do like to do the slow in depth study often as well.

Perhaps having the ability to set your own color coding preferences would be the best route. This would lend itself to more of a third party application/website that uses a scripture API, in my humble opinion.

I really like this rollover idea. It reminds me of a search engine that I used recently. I think it's Ask.com. You can roll over an icon and it will show you a small rendered image of the each page in the results. Yep it is Ask.com. Go there and check it out. It is very slick.

It would be great to see something sort of like this!

-Tom

Welcome to the blissfull world of dynamic hypertext. The possibilities are endless. Getting back to the topic at hand, I *really, really, REALLY* think a scriptures API could be such an asset to both the Church and it's members.

What other projects would this community put forth if there was a Scripture API. We have the study manual, what else?

thedqs wrote:What other projects would this community put forth if there was a Scripture API. We have the study manual, what else?

What do you mean by study manual? I'm having trouble following.

I really like the idea of social scripture marking and chaining (with both public and private capabilities).

Sorry I meant journal not manual. The [thread=113]Scripture Study Journal[/thread] was proposed by tebbs and he is trying to get someone to start a project for it. Though I think we are waiting for the Scripture API to be released before we start working on it.

I think it might be possible to do this with a firefox plugin or maybe greasemonkey, at least until (hopefully) the church does it!