At 11:21 AM 12/13/2007 -0600, Matthew Eernisse wrote:
Hank,
The single big functional difference between iCal and the Chandler
collection selector is a requirement that we added to make it easier
for people who aren't overlaying multiple collections: You shouldn't
have to click twice to navigate between collections.
That's not incompatible with using checkboxes as the affordance for
overlays. If you select a collection whose box is not checked, we
could show a greyed-out checkmark in the box, and when you click on
another collection, that checkmark could go away.
If you select a collection that's already checked, navigating on or
off of it would leave it unchanged.
For the selection-override, you could simply check-and-disable the
checkbox to indicate that it's showing and can't be un-shown, and
then return it to its previous state when selection goes elsewhere.
This is what the first prototype I linked to in my previous e-mail does:
http://www.fleegix.org/demo/floss_usability_2007/proto_1.html
There are two drawbacks to this design:
1. The disabled checkbox tells you nothing about what the state was
before the user selected the collection (and hence, what it will go
back to if the user selects something else).
2. The user can't change it (from
visible-only-by-virtue-of-being-selected to visible). To change it,
the user would have to select a different collection.
I don't see either of these drawbacks if you use a greyed-out
checkmark in the box, but leave the *box* enabled for
clicking. Here's the state map:
* Selected (highlighted) collection: clicking the box switches
between a solid checkmark and a greyed checkmark (that will go away
if you deselect the collection)
* Unselected collections: clicking the box switches between a solid
checkmark and an empty box.
This is consistent and easy to predict, without requiring any new
symbols to be invented. If there is a column header like "Show" over
the column of checkboxes, then the meaning should be apparent as soon
as you notice the greyed checkmark moving when you select different
collections.
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