Re: [IxDA Discuss] Type or select?

[Shaun O'Connell]

Hey Courtney, Turi,

Thanks for the responses :)

The idea is that the text field is still a normal text field, it just has an
attached tumbler.
If the user clicks in the text field, it just selects the text in the text
field as normal.

The up/down arrow actions only occur if the field is in focus.

You're right, a real date could allow the user to skip over the date and
proceed as normal - not good. To circumvent this, we could use a fake date,
such as 1980.02.31?  If they skip over it, the validation should kick in and
say that it's an invalid date.

Another option would be to use a mask (e.g. CCYY as year).  When the user
puts focus on the text-field, the mask disappears.  If the user set's focus
to the field and the field is blank, and they subsequently use the tumbler
or press an arrow key, the field jumps to the top number?

Interestingness :)
Ciao,
Shaun


On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 8:02 PM, Jordan, Courtney  wrote:

> 
> Now imagine you need to set your birthdate using the above control.
>
> We could initialise the date with an arbitrary date such as: 1980.06.15.
>
>
> One of the problems with setting an arbitrary date is that users might
> not change it to the appropriate date unless it actually behooves them
> (they get some sort of reward for being below or above a certain age),
> thus if you are trying to track the age groups of your users, this would
> skew your results. Since they won't get an error when they try to submit
> the form and if they don't get some type of reward, then why would they
> take the time?
>
> Another problem would be that it might make people think that the dates
> start at 1980, thus no one older than 27-28 could sign up for whatever
> service/product you're offering. This would skew the age group that you
> end up with.
>
> In looking at your tumbler, my first thought is what happens when I
> click the tumbler? There seems to be no way to go up or down as in a
> normal up/down arrow spin button control, so if it starts at 1980, does
> clicking it once move is to 1979 or 1981.
>
> Courtney Jordan
>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Type or select?

[Shaun O'Connell]

Hi IXDA'ers,

I was trawling through the archives looking for a suitable discussion topic
to post against, and this one came up.

I was recently inspired by a blog entry concerning calendar-based date/time
pickersto
create a more intuitive date/time picker.
I'm not sure about the rest of you, but some calendar controls frustrate me
as a user.  Sometimes I'm forced to use a calendar control because it's
easier than interpreting the format for the single date field.

Anyway, the post got me thinking about a different approach to date/time
pickers, leaning heavily on those old mechanical alarm clocks that had dials
or cogs next to the hour and minute displays.  Read more on the idea here:
http://ndorfin.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/rl-date-picker/

Will this idea end up being harder to understand than a fly-out calendar
picker? i.e. Does convention over-rule out-of-the-box UI ideas?

Has anyone had any experience testing up-down-arrow or slider controls in
web-based forms?  Could something like my 'tumbler' idea work if the graphic
design is done properly?

I'd love to have some feedback on this idea.  Thanks!

Cheers,
Shaun

On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 11:14 AM, Pietro Desiato wrote:

> hi all,
>
> I think that the date format could be an issue. I'd rather prefer a
> text field for day and year and a dropdown for month (it's also
> easier to select the month instead of either writing it or understand
> which format has been used). If you feel that the conversational
> paradigm is the way to go (as I do), think also about the label you
> want to associate to these fields. Maybe (I don't know your
> context\users) you can "melt" these input fileds with the label.
> Something like "I am born on [month dropdown] [day], [year]. Imho
> the calendar is a complex interaction (opening, browsing, selecting,
> closing) and I'd avoid it.
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Posted from the new ixda.org
> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36010
>
>
> 
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> Unsubscribe  http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
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