[kde-guidelines] Phrasing of selection teasers

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On 04.09.2013 13:44, Diego Moya wrote:
> To clarify - when I say "multi-selection list" I'm referring to the
> [Available items] list. 
> 
> The alternative that I propose still could be seen as a dual list,
> sort of, in the most general case (where the [Selected items] is can
> not be safely removed as not needed); but it requires a reduced number
> of clicks, and no need to multi-select with Ctrl+click.
> 
> One major problem of the classic Dual List is that it's confusing
> because both lists are given equal weight. So another advantage of my
> proposal over the dual list with arrows suggested at the HIG is that
> the [Available items] list is made the primary control; the [Selected
> items] can be made subsidiary, de-emphasized. This increases the
> visual hierarchy, directing user interaction towards the [Available
> items] in the first interaction when no items are still selected.

Do you have any data supporting that users are indeed confused?
I haven't done any usability tests on the classic dual-list pattern yet,
but with one full list and one empty list, I don't see how users
would think they should interact with the empty list first.

> [1] http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG/DualList [1]
> 
> On 4 September 2013 15:10, Diego Moya <turingt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Here's your alternative: have a dual list where the multi-selection
>> list is made with checkbox-enabled elements. Checking an item
>> instantly adds it to the second list. Get rid of the right-arrow
>> "add item" and left-arrow "remove item" buttons; they're less
>> efficient that the checkbox. (If you want to make removal of one
>> item efficient, make a click on the "selected" list select the
>> corresponding item on the "multi-selection" list.).  The only time
>> where the "two arrows" idiom is the best option is the rare case
>> where you need multi-select addition *and* multi-select removal
>> of many items; I can't think a single example where that would be
>> preferable to the simpler interaction of the checkbox list.

Aha, now we're getting somewhere! :) I definitely like the "one-click 
selection".
I don't see too much of a problem with drag& drop (this is what many
implementations of the classic dual-list do wrong: They do not allow
drag&drop, which is way easier than selecting an item and then clicking
the "add to selection" button. The buttons are basically only there
for people who won't do d&d (either because they don't know how or
because they have difficulties doing it), but selecting with a
single click is even easier, of course.
I do think it's important to deselect an item without having to
find it in the "Available items list" again. I could imagine either
- deselecting an item by clicking it in the selected items list or
- when selecting an item in the selected items list, the available
items list could automatically scroll to that item so it can be
deselected.
I think this suggested pattern would still have to bve discussed and
improved through a few iterations, but it might be a good compromise
between classic dual-list and a simple checkbox list.

I'm glad that we shifted the focus from stating that something is
bad to coming up with suggestions for potentially superior solutions. :)

Cheers,
Thomas