The Physics Evolution

June 11, 2005 9:43 PM

The Physics Evolution - a flash based history from the Institute of Physics in London. Clickable maps with timelines and short biographies of the main figures. It's a bit superficial, but a lot of fun.
posted by thatwhichfalls (4 comments total)

Classical case of (flash based) infotainment. Nah, rather stick to some real beef, like wikipedia.
posted by homodigitalis at 9:53 PM on June 11, 2005

You're right I think, but it's worth a look just for the way it tries to do the geographical and time linkages - have one tab open on the link and another open on wikipedia and it works rather well.
It could be really good I suspect - if the creators of the site didn't feel so scared of their potential audience and their attention spans.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:00 PM on June 11, 2005

Agreed. I have seen so many interface to show links and relations between pages / knowledge / whatever - so far none of them worked. No matter if they worked with fancy 3d interfaces or limited flash interfaces.

Microsoft Encarta did a good job with it's timeline feature, where you could 'filter' in or out certain topics.

But overall it's tough job to do for designers.
posted by homodigitalis at 10:07 PM on June 11, 2005

Obviously an attempt by secular liberal elites to undermine the "Physics Intelligent Design" movement.
posted by deliquescent at 8:43 AM on June 12, 2005