[Design] [D/f] Collection switching in the calendar

[Mimi Yin]

Thanks for writing this up Jeffrey. Let me see if I can re-phrase the  
problem and you tell me if my characterization is accurate:

You find it confusing when you select an event from an activated (aka  
overlayed) calendar that is not the selected calendar, 2 things happen:
1) sidebar selection switches to match the calendar that the event is  
on.
2) the events in that calendar become the "saturated" events. all  
other events become de-saturated.

I think the way you're thinking about it is: You're selecting an  
event to look at it's detail, NOT necessarily to switch which  
"calendar" is on top. Chandler and iCal conflate those two use cases:  
Select event = Select calendar the event is a member of.

You've got a valid point. I wonder though if it's useful to be able  
to switch which calendar is "on-top" by just clicking on events in  
the calendar canvas.

I also wonder if it's conceptually confusing for the selection on the  
calendar canvas to NOT match the selection in the sidebar (ie. you  
have an event selected, but it doesn't belong to the calendar that's  
selected in the sidebar.)

===
However there's a separate issue that I think is more serious...

In Chandler you're scenario is potentially much more jarring than in  
iCal because in Chandler, the Selected calendar is not necessarily an  
Activated calendar. So imagine the following scenario:

1. You've got 2 calendars showing on the calendar canvas, one  
calendar is Activated, but not Selected. The other calendar is  
Selected, but not Activated.

2. In the calendar canvas, you select an event that's on the  
Activated, but not Selected calendar.

3. As a result, the selection changes in the sidebar. Since the  
second calendar was never Activated, changing the selection makes it  
disappear completely from the calendar canvas.

This was a known issue in 0.6...John and I spent a lot of time  
talking about it.

One solution to this problem might be: Once the user starts to  
Activate, aka Check-off, aka Overlay collections...Chandler  
AUTOMATICALLY checks all collections that are Selected. Therefore,  
users would never end up in the situation described above: 1 calendar  
Activated, but not Selected and a 2nd calendar Selected but not  
Activated. (It's sort like Activating or Checking-off a collection is  
like pushing the CAPS LOCK key.)

The downside of this is that it would DISALLOW the possibility of  
having "drive-by" overlays where you have a BASE set of Activated  
collections and then you go around TRYING OUT different overlays by  
selecting different collections.

Caveat: you never how weird this solution might feel until you try it  
out.

Has anyone else had this experience?

Mimi

On Mar 10, 2006, at 11:23 AM, Jeffrey Harris wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> I'm finding that I don't like the fact that Chandler switches which
> collection is selected (and hence makes saturation changes to all
> displayed event, which I find jarring) when an item in a different
> collection is selected.
>
> Here's my usage pattern.  I have the
> - Office calendar, general meetings to be aware of, many of which I'm
> not attending but want to be aware of,
> - My meetings, group meetings I want to pay special attention to or  
> 1 on
> 1 time, and
> - My calendar, events unrelated to work.
>
> I keep My meetings and Office calendar overlaid, mainly because when I
> select different collections I want to preserve the color coding of my
> events.  I don't keep My calendar overlaid because when I'm at work I
> don't typically want to see my non-work events (I don't mind seeing  
> work
> events when I'm thinking about home, I'm not sure why).
>
> When I'm viewing My calendar, I see the attached screenshot.  It looks
> nice.  It's easy to figure out what times might be good for spending
> time with my brother Blythe when he's visiting next week.
>
> Unfortunately, as I click around looking at the details of various  
> work
> events, all the events change color, and I lose the "Blythe visiting"
> event.  I can go and overlay My calendar, but then I have to  
> remember to
> stop overlaying it later, and besides, I don't like the colors  
> changing
> when I select an event to look at.
>
> To be clear, I like the saturation changes when I change which
> collection is selected, but I want collection selection to change only
> when I tell it to.
>
> Sincerely,
> Jeffrey
> <calendar.PNG>
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