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http://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/ Research Commons at the University of Waikato Copyright Statement: The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). The thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the thesis. Seamlessly Editing the Web A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Computer and Mathematical Sciences with Masters at the University of Waikato by Brook Novak University of Waikato Hamilton New Zealand [email protected] University of Waikato 2010 Abstract The typical process of editing content on the web is strongly moded. Authors are forced to switch between “editing” and “previewing” and “publishing” modes before, during, and after the editing process. This thesis explores a new paradigm of editing content on the web called seamless editing. Unlike existing techniques for editing content on the web, seamless editing is mode- less, enabling authors to directly edit content on web pages without the need to switch between any modes. The absence of modes reduces the amount of cognitive complexity involved with the editing process. A software framework called Seaweed was developed for providing seamlessly editable web pages in any common web browser, and is shown that it can be integrated into any con- tent management system. For the purposes of experimentation, the content management system WordPress was selected, and a plugin using the Seaweed framework developed for it that provided a seamlessly editable environment. Two experiments were conducted. The first study observed users with no or minimal experience with using WordPress, following a set of prescribed tasks, both with and without the plugin. The second study was conducted over a longer time period in a real-world context, where existing WordPress users were naturally observed using the plugin within their own blogs. Analysis of logged interactions and pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires showed that, in both studies, the participants found the Seaweed software to be intu- itive and the new way of editing content to be easily adaptable. Additionally, the analysis showed that the participants found the concept of seamless editing to be useful, and could see it being useful in many other contexts, other than blogs. Acknowledgements I would like to begin by thanking my family for supporting me throughout my academic years. You have all supported me in many ways — mentally, spiritually, financially — I am very grateful for this. A big thanks Dr David Bainbridge. It has been a real privileged to have had you as my supervisor for the last two years. I have learnt so much from our many discussions. Thank you all at Digital Library Consulting. Although the direction of the work took a different turn, you continued to support me to the end. The meetings, use of your facilities and resources, Grillers, and expertise had really helped me pull this thing together! I am so grateful for your generosity. It was such a pleasure to have met you all, and to have worked along side you. Thanks to Dr Doris Jung for not only taking the time to revise my work, but all the positive support through each step of the way. Thanks to Dr Steve Jones for taking interest into my work, and helping me with my write up. Alice, Pip and Kelly, you all have supported me “heaps as” throughout the year. Thanks for proof reading literature what may at times have seemed from another world. A shout out to all the people who took the time to participate in my studies — without your input I would have been lost. I am very grateful for your input. Thank you all. Cheers to the boys for the many surfing missions throughout the year. These times were a much needed sanctuary from my research. Thank You God for giving the motivation and determination to achieve more than I ever would have achieved for my own sake. This is for You. You have blessed me abundantly through my academia years with magnificent people. Thank You. Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 An Illustration . 2 1.2 Contributions to Research . 3 1.3 Synopsis . 5 2 Literature Review 6 2.1 The Anatomy of a Web Page . 6 2.1.1 Static and Dynamic Web Pages . 7 2.1.2 Composite Web Pages . 7 2.1.3 Separation of Structure and Presentation . 8 2.2 Direct Manipulation Systems . 8 2.2.1 Distance of Directness . 9 2.2.2 Direct Engagement . 11 2.3 WYSIWYG Document Editing . 14 2.3.1 Office Documents . 15 2.3.2 HTML Documents . 15 2.4 Authoring the Web . 19 2.4.1 Web Authoring Paradigms . 19 2.4.2 A Taxonomy of Web Authorship . 24 2.5 In-Place Editing . 25 2.5.1 Sparrow . 26 2.5.2 DirectEdit . 29 2.5.3 IsaWiki . 32 2.5.4 Issues with In-Place Editing . 34 2.6 Modeless Editing in Hypermedia Environments . 38 2.6.1 Pyxi . 38 2.6.2 KMS . 38 2.6.3 Modeless Editing on the World Wide Web . 39 2.7 Summary . 42 CONTENTS v 3 Seaweed Framework Implementation 43 3.1 Native WYSIWYG Editing Facilities . 44 3.1.1 The Problem with Native WYSIWYG . 45 3.1.2 Technical Evaluation of Mozile . 46 3.2 Framework Requirements and Overview . 46 3.2.1 Web Browser Support . 47 3.2.2 Framework Overview . 48 3.3 Seaweed Elements . 49 3.3.1 Editable Sections . 49 3.3.2 Place-Holders . 51 3.3.3 Packaged Elements . 52 3.3.4 Protected Elements . 52 3.4 The Event Interface . 53 3.4.1 The Mouse Filter . 53 3.4.2 The Keyboard Filter . 54 3.5 The Cursor . 54 3.5.1 Physical and Symbolic Representation . 55 3.5.2 Spatial Placement Algorithm . 56 3.5.3 Vertical Placement Algorithm . 74 3.5.4 Offset Placement Algorithm . 75 3.6 Selection . 76 3.6.1 The Problem with Native Selection . 76 3.6.2 Seaweed’s Selection Model . 76 3.6.3 Keyboard-controlled Selection . 78 3.7 Fragments . 78 3.7.1 Disconnection Algorithm . 79 3.7.2 Collapse Algorithm . 80 3.8 Undo and Redo Management . 83 3.8.1 Actions . 84 3.8.2 Transaction Data Model . 84 3.8.3 Operation Manager . 86 3.8.4 Undo Manager . 87 3.9 The Clipboard . 88 3.9.1 The Internal and System Clipboard . 88 3.9.2 Access via the mouse . 89 3.9.3 Access via the keyboard . 91 3.10 Managing White-space . 92 3.10.1 Pre-processing DOM Protocol . 93 vi CONTENTS 3.10.2 DOM Manipulation Protocol . 94 3.11 Reducing the Download Bloat . 94 3.11.1 Bootstrapped Release . 94 3.11.2 Compressed Release . 95 4 Seamless Editing for WordPress 96 4.1 Feature Overview . 96 4.1.1 WordPress at a Glance . 97 4.1.2 Key Features of the Seaweed Plugin . 99 4.2 Architecture Overview . 101 4.3 The GUI . 102 4.3.1 The Control Panel . 102 4.3.2 The Toolbox . 105 4.4 Establishing Editable Content . 107 4.4.1 Creating Editable Sections . 107 4.4.2 Visual Indicators . 111 4.5 Editing on the Client-side . 112 4.5.1 Editing Links . 113 4.5.2 Editing Images . 113 4.5.3 Editing Shortcode Content . 115 4.5.4 Spell Checking . 117 4.5.5 Restricting Edit Actions . 120 4.6 Asynchronous Content Management . 121 4.6.1 Permissions and Security . 122 4.6.2 Round-trip Compatibility . 122 4.7 Creating New Posts and Pages . 126 4.8 Deleting Posts and Pages . 128 4.9 Summary . 128 5 Evaluation 130 5.1 Two Observational User Studies . 131 5.1.1 The Prescribed Study . 132 5.1.2 The Unprescribed Study . 133 5.2 The Prescribed Study Design . 133 5.2.1 The Procedure . 134 5.2.2 Data Captured During the Study . 136 5.2.3 The Supporting Infrastructure . 138 5.3 Results and Discussion for the Prescribed Study . 140 5.3.1 Modifications to the Seaweed Plugin . 140 CONTENTS vii 5.3.2 The Participants . 140 5.3.3 The Log Data . 142 5.3.4 Usability and Functionality Issues . 143 5.3.5 Overview of Action Activity . 145 5.3.6 Editing Activity . 146 5.3.7 Qualitative Feedback . 154 5.4 The Unprescribed Study Design . 157 5.4.1 The Procedure . 157 5.4.2 Data Captured During the Study . 158 5.5 Results and Discussion for the Unprescribed Study . 159 5.5.1 Caveat: Editing System Comparisons . 159 5.5.2 The Participants . 159 5.5.3 The Log Data . 162 5.5.4 Usability and Functionality Issues . 163 5.5.5 Overview of Action Activity . 164 5.5.6 Editing Activity . 166 5.5.7 Usage Over Time . 168 5.5.8 Qualitative Feedback . 169 5.6 Summary and Conclusions . 171 5.6.1 Findings for Research Questions . 172 5.6.2 Additional Findings . 174 5.6.3 Summary . ..