Nested Layouts in Fusebox 3 John Quarto-vonTivadar FutureNow, Inc.

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Key FB3 features Nested circuit model Nested layout model Fusedoc: XML-based documentation Exit Fuseactions (XFAs) Stablized core file and skeletal supporting files for easy fusebox generation Exposed corefile API

Fusebox component files Fbx_settings.cfm Fbx_circuits.cfm Fbx_switch.cfm Fbx_layouts.cfm Fbx_savecontent.cfm Fbx_fusebox30_CFxx.cfm

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Nested Circuits Allows communication between circuits to make reuse and distributed development easier Standardization of FB3 allows any FB3 app to work with any other FB3 app A fuseaction in a different circuit is refered to like “Circuit.Fuseaction”

Effective Use of Nested Layouts Cusp between content and content delivery FB3 comes with “colored layouts” app Visual concepts: “russian doll” and “wrapping a birthday present”

Russian Doll visual model

Ideas to Keep in Mind Less is More!! Most web apps can be handled with 1 or 2 layout layers divorce layout from content prove causal relationships between changes in content v. layout affects visitors’ decision patterns

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Too much of a Good Thing? the human brain has a hard time handling “embedded” sentences “the man left the room” “the man the woman spoke to left the room” “the man the woman the child kissed spoke to left the room”

Also remember Don’t make architecture decisions based on layout (a key sign that you’ve over- analyzed, too soon) A graphic designer is not a GUI designer; don’t confuse the two! Graphical elements are the most fleeting page elements: get it done and move on.

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Planning your Layouts approach Every project has unique layout issues even when they use the same layout ideas The same project can have two or more equally effective layout plans. Pick one and move on! most decisions about layout are already implicitly complete by the time prototype is done

Psychology of Online Browsing and Web Usability Least used area of a web site: primary nav Myers-Briggs Personality Type-based delivery of content “Accidental Magic” by Roy Williams “Guide to Web Analytics” (FutureNow) “12 step recovery process to e-commerce sobriety” article series at Techspedition.com

Useful Resources Book: “Don’t Make Me Think”, “Information Anxiety 2” Free Newsletter : “GrokDotCom.com” plain English treatment of effective visitor conversion “Speaking Geek”Article Series:

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New Fusebox 3 book “Code Rutters: Discovering Fusebox” Covers all of FB3 compactly Lets you ease into FB3 from scratch or transition from FB2 Available late May 2002 Sign up here for advance notice

Upcoming FB3 training Intensive 4-day training class in Vancouver, Boston, Munich. Taught by Hal Helms and John Quarto- vonTivadar Covers all of FB3, plus XFB concepts, introduces applied layout v. content concepts to drive site conversion ratio Includes pre-coding (development phase) training

Fusebox future New fusebox governing body to manage change and define specifications New fusebox improvements available privately that extend Fusebox but still meet the official specs Techspedition “core” file uses the FuseQ for Model-View-Controller, bubbling exception handling, Flushing output, fuse-based layouts, and the kitchen sink Released at CF-North in Toronto, May 4-5