SurfaceElement

A surface element can be described or demonstrated in a variety of ways DoingStuff.DonaldNoyes.20140917

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--- Concepts

• Superficial
  • Superficial gives answers when you the user are on the outside of an application.
  • You need to interact with content that is inside the application.
  • The element that enables interaction between the inside and outside of an application is most helpfully described as its surface.
• The metaphor of surface leaves open the exact means by which a surface manages interaction between user and application, but it is easy to decide whether an application has a surface.''
  • A GUI is evidently a surface, but so is a command-line interface or even a teletype.
    • http://superficial.sourceforge.net/concepts.html

--- Facets

• A facet is defined as an element.
  • Each facet element has a fixed attribute that is a Boolean value.
  • When a simple type is defined, you can prevent derivatives of that type from modifying the value of specified facets
  • To prevent modification of a facet, add the fixed attribute to the facet and set its value to true.
  • Facets can only appear once in a type definition except for enumeration and pattern facets.
  • Enumeration and pattern facets can have multiple entries and are grouped together.
    • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms256149%28v=vs.110%29.aspx

--- Display of multidimensional data

• A surface chart shows a three-dimensional surface that connects a set of data points.
  • A surface chart is useful when you want to find optimum combinations between two sets of data.
  • As in a topographic map, the colors and patterns in a surface chart indicate areas that contain the same range of values. Unlike other chart types, a surface chart does not use colors to distinguish the data series — colors are used to distinguish the values instead.
  • To enhance a surface chart, you can change the colors and use transparency to display color bands that are obscured in the back of the chart.
    • http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/present-your-data-in-a-surface-chart-HA001233751.aspx