Giving a hinting option?

[jarvis24]

This turned out to be a bit trickier than I first expected. I figured a little bit of timed HTML as a background would work just like you did. Big challenge was giving them a choice to see the hints, and not offering a hint if they had the answer already entered.

I ended up approaching it with a new custom item type. It handles the choice problem via javascript. The script checks to see that the textbox does not yet contain the correct answer. If so, then it asks the subject if they want a hint.

I also added a line of code in the javascript to re-activate the text box after each hint. Often, pop-up messages like this (aka dialog boxes) will remove the focus from the text box and users will have to click on them.

I set it up so that you could use the same single html file for all your anagrams. Each time you call it as a custom item, you can pass the variable name, the anagram, the hints and the answer directly from your questionnaire (see the sample que file contained in the zip file). Currently it's set up to send 2 hints--one at 30 seconds and another at 60 seconds. You can modify it accordingly for more hints.

If you've never used custom items before, be sure to check out the section in the guide. If you've never programmed HTML or Javascript, I would suggest having someone go through it with you who knows such stuff in case you want to tweak it.

In any case, try it out and see if it approximates what you're looking for. You'll need MediaLab v2006.2 or later. I'd love to see what you come up with if you make changes.

Hope it helps,
Blair