Web dev at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland

I’m available as a consultant. I also have a book out.

Explanatory windows

So, I decided to go through some of the apps I use every day (with Google Maps as a bonus) and see which of them use explanatory windows and for what purpose.

Turns out most of them do. Some for autocompletes. Some to bring up contextual tools. Some to bring up a purely explanatory window. It is, as I said in my earlier post, a generic tool for interactivity that I think should be standardised and implemented as a primitive by ereaders.

Again, excepting Google Maps, these are all apps I use on a daily basis. I didn’t even try to look for it in other apps.

Apologies to Pablo Defendini for using my exchange with him in the screenshot.

Twitterific uses explanatory windows for conversations

Byword uses them for a tools palette

OS X uses them for dictionary definitions

Coda uses them for autocompletes

Google Maps uses them for information on a location

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