Layout Customizer Keyboard Interaction

[Daphne Ogle]

In-line comment below...

-Daphne

On May 21, 2008, at 5:49 AM, Anastasia Cheetham wrote:

>
> On 20-May-08, at 3:20 PM, Allison Bloodworth wrote:
>
>> In Yahoo!, iGoogle, & Facebook there is no message if the user tries
>> to move a portlet too far up, down, to the right or to the left.
>> There is just no drop target so when released it just jumps back to
>> where it was.
>
> I checked with Gary on this one - his intention in the mock-ups ( http://wiki.fluidproject.org/x/9Q8a
>  ) is that the drop target remain where it last was if the portlet is
> dragged over a locked portlet, and that if it is dropped, it would
> successfully drop in the 'last known' location (i.e. not snap back).
> (see thread subject "Finishing the Layout Customizer" on May 15, 2008)
>
> Gary and Allison, which way should we implement this? We need to know
> what to implement in order to have it ready for user tests.

>
>
>
>> while an error message helps when it may be unclear why there isn't
>> a drop target (e.g. with a locked portlet), I don't think an error
>> message is necessary in the case Michelle describes. What do others
>> think?
>
> Could we have some guidance on this one too?
I agree that no message is needed in these cases.  In fact I think  
it's unlikely a user would try to drag a portlet too far down or to  
the right or left.  The most likely scenario is that they they will  
drag to it past the last portlet.  If they do drag a little too far i  
think it's fine to just drop it in the last valid location since, in  
the case of dragging to the bottom) it still ends up the last portlet  
in the layout.
>
>
>
>>
>> On May 20, 2008, at 10:53 AM, Michelle D'Souza wrote:
>>>
>>> In the keyboard interaction for the Layout Customizer, there is a
>>> warning message that is shown when trying to move a portlet above a
>>> locked portlet. The warning message text in the mockups is: "The box
>>> cannot be placed any higher in this column."  I assume that the
>>> warning message would also show if the user tried to move the last
>>> portlet in a column down or the user tried to move a portlet in the
>>> rightmost (or leftmost) column right (or left).
>>>
>>> The actual text will, of course, be customizable. What I'm wondering
>>> about is whether I require four different messages - one for each
>>> direction - or whether a more generic message would be reasonable.
>>> Perhaps something like: "The portlet cannot be moved in that
>>> direction." Which shows up in response to the direction key that the
>>> user has just pressed.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Michelle
>
>
> -- 
> Anastasia Cheetham                   a.cheetham at utoronto.ca
> Software Designer, Fluid Project    http://fluidproject.org
> Adaptive Technology Resource Centre / University of Toronto
>
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Daphne Ogle
Senior Interaction Designer
University of California, Berkeley
Educational Technology Services
daphne at media.berkeley.edu
cell (510)847-0308