[Design] [Proposal] Preview area

[Mimi Yin]

I'm going through the design list trying to wrap up some threads that  
never reached a definitive conclusion. We've explored a number of  
options with how to make the Preview pane in the Mini-cal less  
confusing and more useful. In the interest of having something  
usable, sooner rather than later, I propose that we:

Not make any huge changes from what we have today, so instead we:

1. Allow the Preview pane to display more events. This can be  
achieved in several ways, we should do whatever is easiest:
+ Allow as many events as there is room in the sidebar (as in without  
obscuring collections)
+ Allow as many events as there is room in the sidebar (as in leaving  
at least enough sidebar to display OOTB collections + 2 user-defined  
collections)
+ Allow a larger set number of events (e.g. 10)
+ Insert a splitter between the Preview Pane and Mini-cal and let the  
user decide how much real estate the Preview Pane should take up  
(Adds visual clutter to the sidebar, unless we can implement a custom  
splitter that's just a single pixel line.)

2. Title the Preview pane: Today's events

3. Nice to have: Make it possible to navigate to an event on the  
Calendar by clicking on an event in the Preview Pane (from any App  
area).

Comments?

Mimi :o)

On Apr 14, 2006, at 11:18 AM, Mimi Yin wrote:

> I have written up a summary of the design discussions surrounding  
> the Preview area (bug 4610) PLUS 1 more suggestion for a design  
> alternative.
>
> http://wiki.osafoundation.org/bin/edit/Journal/SummaryPreviewPane? 
> t=1145037939
>
> I'd like to get a sense of how easy/hard it would be to try out any/ 
> all of the proposals and compare them after using each one over a  
> period of time.
>
> Summary of Preview Pane discussions and Proposals
> Several people report a bug because they are confused with the  
> Preview Pane's inconsistent behavior across App areas. In the  
> Calendar app, it is stuck showing Today's events. In the other App  
> areas, it shows events for whatever day is selected in the mini- 
> cal: http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/design/2006-March/ 
> 004298.html
>
> Mimi takes issue to the list, explaining reasoning behind  
> inconsistent behavior: http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/ 
> design/2006-February/004051.html
>
> Others reply with how they use the Preview Pane in the Calendar  
> App, it is useful for it to be stuck on Today's events, even though  
> admittedly it is confusing at first: http://lists.osafoundation.org/ 
> pipermail/design/2006-March/004298.html
>
> Proposals
>
>    * Current design: In the Calendar app, the preview pane is stuck  
> showing Today's events. In the other App areas, it shows events for  
> whatever day is selected in the mini-cal.
>
>    * Alternate design 1: Make the Calendar app consistent with the  
> other App areas. Add extra visual feedback in the mini-cal so the  
> user can select a day within a week...when they're in the week  
> view, so the user can control which day of the week they want to  
> see in the Preview pane.
>
>    * Alternate design 2: In the Calendar app, we add a label:  
> Today's events at the top of the Preview pane.
>
>    * Alternate design 3: In all Apps areas, the Preview pane is  
> stuck on Today's events. However, the user can mouseover different  
> days to preview events for those days. (Might be too much  
> interaction feedback. More disorienting than useful.)
>
> Mimi :o)
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
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