Table 2 - Functions and Features of Homepage Items


Item Function and Feature
Example Under the Example section, there are usually several Selection Boxes in which the learner could choose other sets of variables to evaluate. This feautere enables the learner to feel about the variable dependence (or relationship) of the final result. It is provided by the Javascript programming and is illustrated by the following example.
Example 2.1

What is the energy stored in the coil when A is passing through an inductor of inductance H ?

L = H,      I = A
W = LI2 / 2 = x 2 / 2 = J


Programmed learning box
Similar to the Selection Box in the Example section, there are many Selection Boxes in every chapter with a Question Mark ? inside each. They are used for programmed learning and the learner needs to guess the key word(s) to be filled in the blank. The answer is given inside the box when it is pulled down. Try this now:
Figure There are plenty of color drawings or diagrams used for illustrating facts and concepts. They normally have 16 colors only and are compressed in gif format in order to reduce file size.
Photo There are many photos of real objects (normally with 256 colors) located in various parts of the homepage and their presence is each indicated by a special icon. They are used as examples and detailed study is usually not required. Hence, most of those photos are not shown explicitly on the home-page so as to reduce the downloading time. The learner needs to click the special icon in order to show it in another window and this feature again requires the Javascript programming.
Hypertext Each keyword is adhered with a hyperlink either to generate a pop-up window or to jump to another location (normally within the same page) for showing the definition or further explanation. We deliberately avoid using too much hyperlinks within the content part so that the learner may not get lost so easily.
Navigation Icon There is a set of small-size pictures with hyperlinks normally located at the end of each page. They are used for navigation purpose, i.e. to go to next or previous section or to jump a specific page such as the Problems page, the Summary page, the Short Quiz page, the Contents page and the Front page etc. Their locations for guided learning need very careful consideration because many dependent learners may get lost without the minimal guidance (i.e. what to do next).
Colored Text Keywords or important phrases are highlighted with colors, making the text less monotonic. This is in fact the most favorable feature in the hypermedia as reflected from the questionnaire survey.
Formula and Symbol Apart from the superscript and subscript, most features required for creating formulas or equations are sofar not supported by HTML. Hence, formulas and symbols which are very often present in Science, Mathematics and Engineering subjects have to be created in a word processor and then converted into an image file in gif format. A library of images for scientific or mathematical symbols is established for repeated usage.


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