Item10542: Ajax interface look-and-feel / usability

pencil
Priority: Enhancement
Current State: No Action Required
Released In: n/a
Target Release: n/a
Applies To: Extension
Component: EditRowPlugin
Branches:
Reported By: PhilippLeufke
Waiting For:
Last Change By: PhilippLeufke
The Ajax interface of EditRowPlugin has some usability flaws in my eyes:
Problem #1
  • a table which contains many empty cells is cluttered with Click to edit statements
Sulutions
  • use gray font color for these statements and make them disappear for printing and for copy-pasting of the table
  • only show message as mouse-over pop-up on a cell
  • optionally hide the statement entirely

UPDATED Filed a separate bug for this issue: Item10591


Problem #2
  • moving rows is too easy and can happen accidentally; it also prevents from marking parts of the table for copy-pasting
Solution
  • when hovering over a table row, a small triangle-arrow should appear on any edge of the row; use this triangle as a handle for moving the row (with tooltip message "hold and move to shift row!" or so)
    The same could be done for table cells: have a small icon (triangle) appearing when hovering over a cell; when you click it, you are in edit mode
UPDATED Filed a separate bug for this issue: Item10592
Problem #3
  • when editing a cell and moving pointer focus to a different program or browser tab (at least in chromium browser), all changes to the cell are discarded without warning; this is an unexpected behavior to me as it causes data loss and prevents me from copy-pasting data from other applications while being in cell edit mode
Solution
  • stay in edit mode even when focus is lost
UPDATED Filed a separate bug for this issue: Item10593
Classifying these issues as "enhancement" although the latter really is a bug in my eyes.

-- PhilippLeufke - 25 Mar 2011

Excellent feedback, thanks, Philipp! I'm happy to confirm all these enhancements as desirable.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 26 Mar 2011

One more idea, related to Problem #3

Problem #4
  • edited data may get lost since the edit mode is quit too easily, e.g. by clicking elsewhere on the page (e.g. just not aiming correctly at the "save" button) or by hitting "TAB" key (which shortly moves the input focus to the "save" button but then exits edit mode without saving
Solutions
  • when a field's data was changed and we don't save it, a confirmation dialog should pop up
  • how about defaulting to "save" when clicking elsewhere and having a "cancel" button instead of "save"?
  • "TAB" key behavior: defaulting to "save this field, proceed to the next and go into edit mode" would be best in my eyes, making keyboard-only editing easier
UPDATED Filed a separate bug for this issue: Item10593 -- PhilippLeufke - 31 Mar 2011

One more problem related to Problem #1

Problem #5
  • editing a cell which only contains a link (e.g. a WikiWord) is impossible, as double-clicking will -- of-course -- send you to the linked page
Solutions
  • show a small icon in a corner of the cell which is to be clicked for editing (on mouse-over)
  • or overlay an (animated) drop-down message "Edit this cell" on mouse-over; the message field should be connected to the cell where the cursor is hovering

UPDATED Filed a separate bug for this issue: Item10591

@ Crawford: I put you in "waiting for" field as I think Problem #5 really is an issue...

-- PhilippLeufke - 01 Apr 2011

While I really appreciate your enthusiasm, I'd like to ask you to please open a separate task for each report. There are now 5 separate tasks in this task, of which the first 3 are confirmed but the other 2 are not. This is too confusing for my small brain.

Thanks.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 01 Apr 2011

Done; split it up into three distinct bugs. Marking this bug as "No action required".

-- PhilippLeufke - 04 Apr 2011
 

ItemTemplate edit

Summary Ajax interface look-and-feel / usability
ReportedBy PhilippLeufke
Codebase 1.0.10
SVN Range
AppliesTo Extension
Component EditRowPlugin
Priority Enhancement
CurrentState No Action Required
WaitingFor
Checkins
TargetRelease n/a
ReleasedIn n/a
Topic revision: r6 - 04 Apr 2011, PhilippLeufke
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