[Design] Re: Alpha 4 search

[John Anderson]

Hi Mimi:

Is this a correct restatement of your spec, assuming we go with modeless 
search?

Whenever the user types something in the search box we switch the 
summary view display to a table view (dashboard) and display the results 
of the search.

The search is over all items in all sidebar collections in the selected 
application area. If any visible attribute of an item matches the search 
string, the item is displayed.

Each collection in the sidebar displays a number of matches, e.g. Home(3).

If search is slow we will add an "X" toggle icon to stop/start the 
search, and will provide feedback indicating the search is proceeding.

If there is no text field is actively being edited, typing changes the 
focus to the search box and starts editing.

I have two more questions:

1) When you say that all collections in the application area are 
searched, does that include all the "Out of the Box" collections, e.g. 
Dashboard?

2) Should there be separate search strings for each application area? 
Suppose you launch a new Chandler for the first time, search in "tasks", 
then switch to calendar view. Does it search Calendar with the task 
search string, or display a Calendar view? I think it seems better to 
have separate search strings for each application area.

John

Mimi Yin wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> Search should work the same across all app areas. The results should 
> return in a table view. We're assuming in the Beta timeframe, that we 
> won't have a split-pane calendar + table view that can move in sync. 
> As a result, it makes more sense to display search results for 
> calendar items in a table than on a calendar.
>
> If you're searching in the Calendar app area, when the user deletes 
> the search / ends the search session, the calendar view returns.
>
> Apologies, that should have been in the spec.
>
> Modeless search sounds great, but isn't a requirement to get it up and 
> running.
>
> Thx for the catch, Mimi
>
>
> On Aug 1, 2006, at 5:18 PM, John Anderson wrote:
>
>> Hi Mimi:
>>
>> I was reading the searching spec and had a few questions:
>>
>> I think most people prefer modeless UI. So what do you think about 
>> getting rid of your search mode and just letting the user click in 
>> the search box and type their search string -- always keeping the 
>> search results up to date with whatever they typed?
>>
>> I noticed that you didn't mention that search should work in the 
>> Calendar view. Is this an oversight? I could imagine it being useful. 
>> If it isn't an oversight maybe we should remove the search box in 
>> Calendar view.
>>
>> Should we maintain a separate search string for each application area?
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>