[wp-hackers] [OT] Testing needed for WordTrails plugin from Xerox

[William Canino]

Hi All,

WordTrails is basically a tool to create multiple multidirectional
reading paths within a blog.  The paths one creates are stored as XML,
which are re-read by the plugin to make a navigational sidebar widget
in HTML, or to display a flowchart in Flash.

The idea of telling a visitor, "To learn foobaring, just follow the
Foobar lesson, starting here, otherwise, move on to the next Barfoo
chapter" and "You're reading part 8 of our Foobar tutorial, you can
start at the beginning or look at the map," can potentially make this
a killer WP app, but the explicit need for a tutorial AND the explicit
need for instructions like "To read the next part, click the so-and-so
on the WordTrails box in the navigation column to the top right of
this post" make me wish I'd have made PowerPoint slides instead.

It becomes further overwhelming when there are several navigation
paths that overlap.

Don't get me wrong, Jesse, Navigational User Interfaces is a tough nut
to crack, but I think CBT tools do a better job at this than this.
I'd love to try this if ever it becomes XHTML compliant.

Best regards,
W


2009/10/1 Silverstein, Jesse <Jesse.Silverstein at xerox.com>:
> Hi WordPress community members:
>
>
>
> I am part of a team at the Xerox Innovation Group, and we've just
> released a powerful plugin called "WordTrails" in beta.  I am emailing
> this group to solicit volunteers to help us test it a bit before we
> officially change the version number from 0.9.x to 1.0.
>
>
>
> WordTrails allows you to very easily blaze arbitrary paths (with
> branches and loops) through a WP blog. Readers can follow these trails
> through a "bird's eye view" Flash trailmap and a "worm's eye view"
> sidebar widget. They can also linearize and convert a trail to a PDF
> with one click.
>
>
>
> So WordTrails basically overlays a highly flexible navigation scheme on
> a WP blog, and simultaneously turns it into a sort of one-click ebook
> publishing system.
>
>
>
> I'd like to invite you to check out and install the plugin
> (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordtrails). You can see it in
> action at http://blog.trailmeme.com (click on the 'Trails' page). You
> can also try it out for yourself before installing, on our sandbox blog
> (open registration): http://blog.trailmeme.com/sandbox
>
>
>
> WordTrails is part of the ecosystem of a larger technology set called
> Xerox Trails, which includes a destination site at www.trailmeme.com
> <http://www.trailmeme.com/>  that is currently in invite-only beta. For
> more background go to: http://blog.trailmeme.com/new-to-trails/
>
>
>
> Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback, or encounter
> any bugs. Feel free to forward this email to any serious bloggers using
> self-hosted WordPress. We've spent a year developing this plugin, and
> are really eager to see what you guys do with it!
>
>
>
> Jesse Silverstein
>
> Jesse.Silverstein at xerox.com
>
>
>
> On behalf of the Xerox Trails team
>
> Xerox Research Center, Webster
>
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