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AJAX Inline Dictionary like WallStreetJournal.com
chevoldavis writes "Highlight any text on this site then right click. A tooltip containing the definition of the selected word should show up. This tutorial will show you how to accomplish this, step by step. You can modify it to call any function or webservice. This is similar to the WallStreetJournal.com except they show search results in their tooltip window and they leave the functionality of the context menu while I have chosen to supress it.
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More useful would be to right click and get a menu with different languages for translating the word I'm highlighting.
Just because you're accessing it in a web browser does not make it a 'web site'.
Umm, yes, it does. It is a page of markup and the very first line they send to my Web browser contains the Web standard they are employing.
If I am using a web-based AJAX email client like OWA or RoundCube mail I not only *expect* the right click menu to behave like a native client ( With options like copy message, move message, flag, delete, etc), I *demand* it.
Not me. If I'm using a Web browser, I demand it treat everything like the content it is. I don't want my controls of my software to be hijacked, or for it attempt to do so. I can already customize my right-click menu, by application and by Web site if I so desire. If a Web site wants to recommend additional functions for that site, that is fine, but things like a dictionary lookup are in no way something only my Web browser needs to access. I use the same dictionary in dozens of programs and I don't want to switch to their, half-assed, poorly configured one, just for their site. I also don't want to suddenly lose the other functionality of my contextual menu, like viewing the page's source, or blocking a particular ad server. No thanks.
It pretty much excludes KHTML/Konqueror from ever running our application.
Then you need to hire a competent UI designer. A contextual menu should never, and I mean never, ever contain functionality that cannot be accessed from another part of the program. A significant number of users don't know how to right click or will not think to try it to find some functionality. It is effectively hiding that function. Some users don't even have a right click button on their mouse and many users use some sort of alternative interface. Whether they are blind, have a palsy, are paralyzed, are working on a touch pad or stylus, or are using some other interface you've never dreamed of, the right-click menu is inconvenient or unavailable to a lot of users. If a user needs it to run your application you just violated a very basic UI design rule that is in pretty much any book you can pick up on the subject. Right-click menus should only be used as a shortcut for functionality that is also present elsewhere.
Seriously, fire your UI guy and get a competent one.