I have a question about setting up a web tool for something. The logic behind it is something that has been done hundreds of times across multiple languages and platforms, but I'm trying to find the easiest way for me to execute it myself.

From a logic standpoint, it would essentially be a flow chart / decision tree (ie old school text based game). I would like to be able to display 4 images in a 2x2 grid arrangement, and the action of clicking one of the 4 determines the next set of 4. (Obviously it would be nicer to be able to use logic to adjust the 4 'slots' individually, but from a programming standpoint it would be much easier to just have a huge database of pre-set pages with 4 options). Eventually the branches would terminate and it would be great to generate some sort of email or form submission with the result upon completion.

There are some simple but clunky ways to do it such as creating a bunch of individual webpages representing each one of the 'slides' with the images and just hyperlinking through those pages. I could also create it in powerpoint with hyperlinks and run it in 'kiosk' mode such that you can't click, gesture, or arrow through the sequential pages, and only navigate via the hyperlinked images. The latter gets closer to the app-like feel. If you run it full screen it actually can look OK. but...it's in powerpoint which is a little ghetto.

There is nothing critical or time sensitive about my inquiry; I'm just curious what options there are for setting something like this up that would run well online across phones, tablets, laptops. If it ends up being a lot more work than I was expecting then oh well, no big deal.

10/13/2014 3:51:28 PM

Never heard of such a thing, but you could make a WordPress extension to do this pretty easily (a few steps better than just making raw web pages).

If you want to record the choices, hook it up to google analytics to do flow analysis.

10/13/2014 4:59:28 PM

appreciate the feedback. Whatever website I linked to it off of would probably be WordPress based anyway so that is definitely something to look into.

And when I said the logic has been used hundreds of times, I was thinking that the programming logic behind it would be like a decision tree or a choose your own adventure type setup. It's just more of a personal response to visuals than answering a specific question.

10/13/2014 5:17:43 PM

I can write this for you on a TI-89, but I'm not sure how to put it on the interwebs

10/13/2014 5:19:52 PM

^Yep, the logic you're talking about is very straightforward. I've just never seen it implemented in any reusable way.

10/13/2014 5:41:10 PM

haha yeah. I wrote a lot of text-based games on my TI-83+ in HS.

I'll look into the wordpress option for sure. Really my end goal is having some sort of diagnostic tool to gauge someone's inclinations or preferences when it comes to visual arts. There are a lot of people who have an opinion on/know what they don't like or do like with art, architecture, furniture etc. but can't express it well. In other words, if you show them a picture, they can tell you whether they like it or not, but sit them down and tell them to describe what they like and they can't. Often their experience is just too shallow to have figured out what they really like or don't like.

I have several architect friends for example as well as some acquaintances that do interior design (and I've tried to dabble in it myself some). Some clients know what they want already, but there are tons who need a lot of hand-holding (for this particular discussion I'm talking more residential). Often the architect or designers spend the entire first couple meetings presenting ideas and trying to learn their likes and dislikes. They'll put together whole displays of stuff that ends up getting tossed. If their prospective customers did a diagnostic like this up front they may be able to really hone in on prospective clients' tastes before ever meeting and come to the table with stronger first ideas.

This is obviously not something I think I could ever sell or anything, just something I thought could be kind of fun to setup.

10/13/2014 6:10:59 PM

Feels like something that some A/B or multivariate testing company would have made in the past. Maybe search for something in that vain?

10/14/2014 3:46:48 AM