[Design] Fwd: [Bug 4520] An alternate way to enter time in event detail view

[Ted Leung]

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On Jun 28, 2006, at 12:06 PM, Heikki Toivonen wrote:

> Mimi Yin wrote:
>> 1. Why would someone want to enter date/time information in the  
>> first place?
>
> Because events usually happen on certain date and time ;)
>
> Or maybe you need to clarify what you mean by 'enter'.
>
>> 2. What are the other ways in which users can assign date/time  
>> information?
>> + e.g. Why would someone edit date/time information in the detail  
>> view
>> as opposed to manipulating the event lozenge in the calendar canvas
>> directly?
>
> I find that I typically create an event by double clicking in the
> calendar. I typically move the lozenge by mouse to start at the right
> time if my click was inaccurate originally. If the event is short  
> (a few
> hours max) I often drag the bottom of the lozenge to the right spot.
>
> The problem with manipulating the lozenge directly is that to see what
> the actual end time is I have to look in the detail view, away from  
> the
> place where I am actually doing the drag.

I find the whole click and drag workflow to be not quite usable right  
now.   It seems to be too easy to click in the wrong place.   I  
normally have 3-4 calendars overlaid (I keep it this way because  
overlaying is kind of slow), and often the click is on the wrong  
calendar.   So I click the calendar and the date, create a new event  
in a clear space and then use the detail view to edit the begin and  
end times.

Editing the text of the start and end times is currently human  
unfriendly, because you have to get the spacing and so forth exactly  
right.

>
> When I am creating an event that lasts longer than a day, I switch to
> the detail view to type the end date and time. But I find I am really
> slow to type the date for a couple of reasons: 1) I have to find out
> from somewhere else (maybe minicalendar) the actual date I need to
> enter, and 2) I still have to mentally adjust to entering in format
> mm/dd (as opposed to dd/mm that my muscles are trained to do). I have
> found that the easiest (and probably fastest although I haven't
> measured) way for me to enter a date is to click a date on a calendar
> that pops up next to the date field. The one I like the best is where
> simply moving the focus to the text field pops up the calendar next  
> to it.
>
> Also, I believe that the fastest way to enter an event would be with a
> keyboard (as opposed to double clicking the calendar).

That might not be true for all people, but it would be true that the  
keyboard would be the fastest way for me.

>
>> 3. What are the different kinds of date/time information people will
>> want to enter? e.g.
>> - Date + Time range
>> - Date + Time
>> - Date range
>> - Certain amount of time from Today
>> - Certain amount of time before a certain date
>> - Certain amount of time before/after an event
>> - Month
>> - Week
>> - Day
>> - Soon, Whenever, Unknown
>>
>> *Does anyone have real examples of these different kinds of dates?
>> Especially the kinds that aren't generally supported by traditional
>> calendar clients? Examples from paper calendars? back of the envelope
>> task lists? etc.*

Right now I'd be more than happy if I could just enter the time  
without such tight restrictions on the text format of the date.  If  
we did that, then that would leave room later for other fancier time  
or date specs.

>
> I've used (in some other calendars than Chandler) Date + Time, Date
> range, Certain amount of time before/after an event.
>
> I would like to be able to enter half open events to mark deadlines  
> and
> the like. I can also sort of see the need for fuzzy times, but I am  
> not
> sure if it would be better to set arbitrary time when that thing would
> 'tickle' you to do something about it.
>
>> 4. What are the different contexts people might be in when entering
>> date/time information? e.g.
>> + Calendar canvas looking at the week that they want to add an  
>> event to
>> + Calendar canvas looking at a week that is far, far away from the  
>> week
>> they want to add an event to
>> + Looking at an event on the calendar canvas that needs to be  
>> moved to
>> 10 weeks from this week
>> + Looking at an event on the calendar canvas that needs to be  
>> moved to a
>> different day in the same week
>
> I've done all of the above.

Yep.

>
>> 5. What are some other date/time related widgets that might be  
>> useful to
>> have in the detail view? e.g. a button that will "Show you this  
>> event on
>> the calendar".
>
> Yup.
>
> I sort of got the impression from some talks we had a while ago  
> that you
> should be able to link items somehow. If we had that, it would be
> natural to say: show me all information related to this event.

Or have a scrolling pane that has the related info in it.
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