Virtual Classroom Board
A browser-based working surface made of TeX/SVG objects and relations that survive movement.
The historical prototype, named Dynamic Labels v0.7 in the surviving source, was conceived as a virtual classroom board. The key idea was to manipulate a structured explanation rather than a flat picture: formulas, figures and labels could be connected through geometric dependencies.
Explaining with structure
Ordinary whiteboards store the result as pixels or isolated strokes. Here, elements have identities and relationships. A figure can be moved, rotated or scaled while attached lines and dependent objects are recalculated.
Core operations
TeX and SVG
Represent formulas, text and drawn figures as geometric entities with their own visual properties.
Transformations
Move, scale and rotate individual figures; update related geometry.
Dynamic links
Lines track their referenced figures rather than remaining arbitrary drawing strokes.
Nodes on links
A dependent element can be attached to a node on a connection, not just to the endpoint objects.
Topics and versions
Named themes can be stored, loaded and branched in the client-server workflow.
Dependency checks
The client includes handling for circular relationships to protect the graph of objects.
Why it matters
The representation treats an explanation as a graph of objects, links and local geometry. This makes it possible to revise an argument's spatial arrangement while preserving which concepts refer to which others.
Such a model applies beyond education: interactive technical diagrams, knowledge structures and collaborative explanations all benefit from relationships that are explicit rather than painted into one canvas.
What survives
The recovered archive contains the browser client with its SVG templates, interaction handlers, local WebSocket connection and message formats. It provides evidence of the client-side editing and link behavior. The complete server counterpart was not supplied.
Related work
Ouité explored communication and annotations around live media; the board explored object-level geometric relations on a shared visual surface. They are related design approaches, not the same implementation.
Ouité / Collaborative Visual Communication →Contextual Interaction Systems →