Have you ever noticed how much of the information we see is summed up in this threefold way? Search results, blog posts, newspaper articles, academic articles, and much more use some variation on this idea. A main heading to define the topic; a subheading or set of ancillary information or metadata to give details and context; and a description or blurb to flesh it out.
Somehow this is a basic pattern that turns out to be really useful for summarizing complex information. It lets you see enough at a glance to have a good idea if you want more.
Our new SuttaCentral navigation builds on this concept. We want to create a navigation where each step doesnât just get you where youâre going, but helps you understand how the journey proceeds.
When I designed the navigation for the current SuttaCentral, I made what I now believe to be a fundamental mistake. Drawing upon Marcus Bingenheimerâs idea that we should think in terms of sutta âclustersâ rather than individual texts, I conceived the idea of a âsuttaplexâ, i.e. a set of information that fully represented that text on SuttaCentral. The basic insight is that a âsuttaâ is an inherently complex entity that includes:
- original text
- maybe more than one edition of original text
- translations. Lots of translations!
- references
- parallels
- essays
- and so on.
Since we canât reduce the idea of a Sutta to something simple, let us accept that what we are dealing with is âsuttaplexesâ. And a convenient way of presenting that is via the metaphor of a âcardâ. So that is what you see on the current site.
So far so good.
What, though, of the entities that organize the suttas? The nikÄya, the vagga, the piášaka, and all the rest?
Clearly these are different kinds of things, and often lack much of the richness of the suttaplex. Thereâs no underlying text, for example, just a name.
So I decided that these ânodesâ (as I called them) were simple. Thus they should be represented using a paradigm appropriate for simple information, for which the obvious example is the sidebar navigation.
We put a lot of effort into that, and it works pretty well. But over time, what was simple became more complex.
- We need to show to difference between something clickable and unclickable: ok, use color for that.
- then distinguish between different levels of hierarchy. okay, use a combination of typography and position for that.
- We need to indicate where to go, use arrows for that.
- Indicate where there are translations, use green dots for that.
- indicate root language, use icons for that.
- provide user shortcuts (just hope they find them)
Thatâs ⌠not all that simple.
And it still doesnât solve some fundamental problems:
- how can we show the translated titles? Thereâs no room in a sidebar.
- Is there a way of describing what these things are, especially for new users?
- How can we co-ordinate different resources for the same thing, for example, an essay about the Digha Nikaya?
Eventually I realized the obvious: none of these things are simple. A sidebar is great if you want top show a few basic items that everyone knows: âpicturesâ, âdocumentsâ, âmusicâ, âdownloadsâ. But for us, itâs just the wrong paradigm.
Luckily, the âcardâ element is very flexible, and can easily accommodate all these kinds of information and more. By making our navigation 100% card-based, we can gather and co-ordinate information for each item, and present it much more clearly.
Are there downsides? Of course! With the new paradigm, we can no longer have the whole navigation system available in a sidebar on every page. And sometimes it may be an extra click to get where youâre going. And before someone asks, no, weâre not going to include both systems: itâs too complicated.
You can preview the new system on Staging. Itâs not perfect yet, but getting pretty good.
Okay, so you can see our pretty new Home page. Nice, right?
At the top we have cards for the three Pitakas. So weâre putting the main content much more front and center.
On these cards you can see:
- main title in userâs language
- subtitle in root language
- a short description
- a link for an essay on the topic
- a badge indicating how many translations are present in the userâs language.
Click on the âDiscoursesâ and youâll see a list of cards, representing the main discourse collections. Again we have the same basic set of information. thereâs not too much detail needed at this level.
Letâs go to the âlongâ Discourses. Here we have three cards. In addition to the information we had earlier, we see the ID for the collection (eg. âDNâ). And optionally we have a âshortcutâ that lets you skip over the stepwise navigation to the full list of suttas. This is provided where it seems useful.
I provide translations for all the levels, even where it is only a nominal difference, eg. I use âcollectionâ for nikÄya and âcomplication compilationâ for Ägama.
Note that some descriptions are a bit long, so we show a snippet and you can click to expand.
Now letâs try the Dighanikaya. now we see a set of three âchaptersâ i.e. vaggas. The IDs show the range of texts included in each chapter.
Anyway, I have to go now so Iâll leave it at that. But I hope you enjoy the new system when it goes live.
