[Design] [Proposal] Selection behavior when choosing different collections

[Mimi Yin]

Can we try this and see how it feels in Alpha3 with some experimental  
usage of the Dashboard? Mimi :o)

Assumptions
When switching from the Calendar to Tasks, I almost never want the  
same set of Collections to be Activated/Selected.
+ In Calendar, I always have Work Selected and then Home, PPD, and  
Office calendars Activated.
+ For Tasks, I would want to see either Home or PPD.

If I receive an Invitation in the Dashboard (All App area), I do want  
to see it on the Calendar (which was the original reason why we  
switched to the model of "Persisting Item Selection across App areas,  
whenever possible"), but maybe we can find a different way to do that  
(e.g. A button in the detail view of the item for: Show me this Event  
on the Calendar)

When I have multiple Collections overlayed, I think of the entire  
view as a single entity, sub-divided by Collection. So when switching  
between overlayed Collections, I expect things like Selected Item(s)  
to persist and progress in a linear fashion across Collections.

However, if I don't have Collections overlayed and I switch  
Collections, I'm really switching back and forth between two separate  
modes: Home tasks and Work tasks. And I want to be able to pick up  
where I left off when I return to a Collection.

===

PROPOSAL
We treat the App areas as Physical Destinations:
+ Mailboxes
+ Task lists
+ Calendar

Each App area has it's own persistent set of:
+ Activated Collections (checked, not checked)
+ Selected Collections

When you have Overlays within an App area
+ Item Selection(s) persist when you change Collection Selection in  
the sidebar, if possible*. Otherwise, de-select.
+ By if possible, I mean at least 1 of the selected Items must belong  
to the newly Selected Collection. (Jeffrey has already said this is  
hard to do when there are multiple Items selected, so it's a Nice-To- 
Have in that situation.)

When there are NO Overlays
+ Item Selection(s) change when you change Collection Selection in  
the sidebar
+ Whatever Item(s) was/were last selected in the newly selected  
Collection is/are now selected. If no Item(s) was/were selected, then  
no Item(s) is/are selected.

When focus is in the Calendar Canvas (Overlays or NO Overlays)
+ The date-range of the calendar canvas NEVER automatically shift to  
re-center itself around the selected item, regardless of whether  
there are Overlays or not.

However, when focus in in a Table view and there are Overlays
+ The scroll bar always tries to center itself around the selected  
Item; OR if there are multiple Items selected, the Item that was  
selected last.

When focus in in a Table view and there are NO Overlays
+ The scroll bar re-positions itself with respect to where it was the  
last time you were in the "newly" Selected Collection.

In addition, we need to have a way for users to:
+ Find/View an Event Item on the Calendar (focus the date-range of  
the Calendar canvas on that Event), BOTH 1) From somewhere else on  
the calendar canvas; and 2) From a table/list view. (e.g. Show on  
Calendar button in the Detail view)
+ Filter down Collections to Section and Show/Hide parts of a  
Collection by Kind

Read it on the wiki: http://wiki.osafoundation.org/bin/view/Journal/ 
SingleVersusParallelUniverses


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