Multi-Pane Readers

Introduction

A number of texts in the Collection are quite complex, having having large numbers of footnotes/endnotes, appendices, long notes, indices, and glossaries. In order to make these texts easier to read and navigate from one part of the text to another I created this “Multi-Pane Reader”.

I adapted the idea of using several “panes” on the same page (defined and filled by Java script) to separate yet still allow cross-linking between the different parts of a complex text. The human reader can still see the “big picture” of the whole text while at the same time moving at will between, for example, the Table of Contents to the text to the notes and back again.

Typically, the ToC is in the far left pane, the main body of the text is in the middle left pane, the footnotes/endnotes are in the middle right pane, and the other notes and glossaries are in the far right pane. The aim is for the reader to see at all times where they are in a complex work without having to lose their place by having to constantly “flip back and forth”.

The most complex Reader we have created to date was designed to accommodate the special requirements of Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire historique et critique (1702). This Reader uses 5 Panes in order to display the main entry of the Dictionary, its minor side-notes, its major Notes, and the minor side-notes of the major Notes. Thus we have a ToC, and a “square” of 4 panes for text with endnotes, and notes with their footnotes.

All these versions of the “Multi-Pane Readers” include the citation tool which enables the reader to grab the URL of any specific paragraph for citation purposes, and the Edward Tufte inspired colour scheme to make things easier on the eyes.

Works in the Collection