From: "Julian I. Kamil" <julian.kamil@...>
Date: 2006-03-14T15:53:47+09:00
Subject: Re: CFD code input preparation form

Bil, looking at the linked page, it seems quite obvious to me that the
user interface can be greatly improved by using alternative elements
such as sliders, radio groups, auto-completing fields, etc.

However, from your question it sounds like you're looking for an
alternative way to input these information to the system that should
not rely on the use of so many UI elements.  If that is the case, the
simplest way to do this that I can think of is by using a single text
area where the user can input YAML formatted data to a Ruby script that
can then process, cleanse, and transform the contents into the
appropriate format (USM3D?) for further processing.

So, my solution would contain the following components:

(1) a web page with a text area prepopulated with a YAML template--the
user simply types in the values that they want to input; and

(2) a Ruby script that takes the POST, validates the input, generates
the output file, and passes that file to the real consumer of the
information.

If you want an even simpler UI, you could ask the end user to create
the YAML file on their own machine with Emacs, Vi, or other text
editors, and have them upload the file with a web form.  In this case,
(1) can be replaced with a single file upload form element.

I think that should be much simpler than the original example...  :-)

Julian I. Kamil <julian.kamil@gmail.com>
http://pandora.rubyveil.com/ - Pandora Publisher
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