[Design] Collection Confusion - News at 11

[Philippe Bossut]

Hi Jim,

Thanks a lot for this thorough end user report. I'm sure Mimi and Sheila 
will make good use of it.

I just wanted to comment on one thing:

Jim Sowers wrote:
> Potential Solutions
>
> 1. Don't use the name "My Calendar" -- personally I HATE the whole
> damn Microsoft "My <data type>" model.  When I'm looking for files,
> everything starts with letter M.  Name the initial Collection the
> username: SpinCycle or Fred or Mitch or Pieter or Mimi or Priscilla
> :-)
>   
hehe, that was my pet rant some time ago. I thought I was the only one 
having this epidermic reaction to the "My thingy" use. I'm glad I found 
a soul mate... :) I always thought that violating basic rules of grammar 
doesn't really help a UI as soon as someone else has to look over your 
shoulder or you share a computer or, in your instance, a collection.

Anyhow, just to drive the point with some humor, just consider the 
following:
    
http://www.engrish.com/detail.php?imagename=my-juice.jpg&category=Drinks&date=2005-08-02

eeek!... :)

Just to be fair with Microsoft, I think that Yahoo actually started that 
trend back in the 90s. Microsoft picked it up later. I've been told 
though that Vista (the new MS OS) got rid of all the "My whatever" names.
> 2. Make the "My Calendar" simply a view overlay rather than an actual
> storage collection.  Thus, you might start with another collection
> called "personal", and then add from there, and then view them all
> together in "My Calendar".  I dunno, this might be a complete re-work,
> and confusing too.
>   
Note that you can overlay calendars without using "My Calendar": simply 
"check" the colored round icon in the sidebar (yes, it's clickable) of 
all the collections you want to consider simultaneously and they'll 
overlay... in color (same feature than iCal).

Cheers,
- Philipe