[kde-guidelines] Date/Time picker (Was: Grunt work)

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Thursday 04 July 2013 12:07:46 Heiko Tietze wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 2. Juli 2013, 17:13:57 schrieb Aurélien Gâteau:
> > > * Allow direct input at the input field (e.g. to copy/paste values).
> > 
> > I don't think this line is necessary: this is the default behavior when
> > using KDateComboBox and KTimeComboBox.
> 
> Removed. But I'm afraid we exclude all important reasons because function is
> inbuilt.

Sure it does feel weird to leave out important things, but I agree with 
Aurélien that we should only only add guidelines for things which developers 
may actually screw up. If we can prevent errors by now allowing them to be 
made on a technical level, redundantly discouraging them via guidelines may 
confuse developers more than it helps them.

> > > * Insert current time or date into into input field on user reset.
> > 
> > What do you mean with "user reset"?
> 
> The small icon/button right hand of input fields. Usually the input field is
> cleared when this object is clicked. But that's not a good idea for masked
> edits, and some generic input like 00:00 or 01.01.1970 is inappropriate as
> well.

I could not find the clear buttons in any real-life date or time pickers in 
KOrganizer and Date and Time settings. Which widgets are they using? Do the 
clear buttons really make sense for date and time pickers?
If we want to keep them in, the guideline makes sense, but since the tooltip 
for the clear buttons says "Clear text", I'd change the guideline to
"When a date or time input field is cleared, reset it to the current date or 
time". Or maybe "...reset it to the previously saved value or to the current 
date or time if no previously saved value exists" ?

> > > I wonder if KDatePicker does realy include the today button along with
> > > selection input and week at the bottom. Kmail's calendar widget doesn't
> > > have these features, and at least the today is very beneficial.
> > 
> > Not sure which widget you are referring to, is this about KOrganizer "Date
> > Navigator" (the one in the top-left corner)? I agree it would be good for
> > it to have a "today" button.

I guess the "today" button is absent in KOrganizer because there is a "Today" 
button in the toolbar above it, so it would be redundant.

Generally, a Today button makes sense in many (or probably most) use cases, 
but not necessarily in all of them. For example when initially setting the 
date on a device, "Today" is probably 01.01.1970), plus there is no defined way 
to implement that button yet, so we should have  guideline for this.


What's missing is a clear distinction between K{Date/Time}ComboBox  and 
KDateWidget / KDateTimeWidget. They clearly have different purposes, but 
currently the criteria in the guidelines are very vague.

I'd suggest to replace the first two guidelines with the following:

"In situations where users enter a date that they already know for certain 
(e.g. their birthday), use a KDateWidget. If they want to enter a date and 
time they already know exactly, use a KDateTimeWidget.
If users want to choose a date and time using the application (e.g. while 
scheduling an appointment or choosing a date for a vacation), use the 
KDatePicker or KDateComboBox (depending on the amount of space available) and 
KTimeComboBox.
If users want to browse through dates (for example when viewing a calendar or 
browsing a history based on the date), use a KDatePicker for convenient 
switching with a single click."

Does that distinction make sense to you?

cheers,
Thomas