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Hi, there.
Following my request, several members of the JavaScript group have contributed to the creation of a really useful (for me, that is…) script, that will allow me to write ‘dynamic’ text pages for my PANTACYCLOPEDIA (short: P), a book-like thing that I am preparing – see thread ‘A real challenge for JavaScript magicians’ in the JS group.
Being greatly encouraged by that, I decided to treat the same groups of JS enthusiasts to another challenge – but probably I put the bar up too high this time. Or possibly, the weird thing I have in mind simple isn’t feasible in JavaScript.
So maybe I should widen my aim, and invite all of yo whiz kids to react to the interesting challenge I think I have for you.
This is my request: for P, I would very much like to have a mechanism that
– keeps track of exactly which pages my reader has already read and which (s)he hasn’t seen yet, and
– uses this ‘reading history’ to either deny or permit this particular reader access to other parts of the book.
– Of course, this ‘intelligent’ selective switch will have to work on as many platforms as possible.
See what I mean? I want P to be ‘a book with a memory’ – the reader reads the book, the book reads the reader (that’s about as interactive as one can get!).
The reason for this wish probably is quite obvious to you: certain chapters in P are rather difficult to grasp without having some prior knowledge that is to be found in other chapters. In other words, in my ideal P, only by reading (or at least: opening) chapter A, one can earn the right to delve into chapter B – not unlike to what happens in some computer games such as MYST.
I am a 100% programming analphabetic (well, almost…), but I assume that such a system could work on the basis of putting the value of some variables into cookies; of course, in that case the reader will have to allow the book the use of cookies. Other pages, menu pages for instance, could then use these values to decide which navigation buttons are being shown when the reader opens the menu page concerned, and which aren’t.
Any suggestions?