[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Circulation Menu in the Staff Client

[William Rockwood]

It appears that the "F1" functionality is present twice in the circulation menu, and once in the search menu. I think if you were to take the "retrieve patron by barcode" out of the circulation menu, and perhaps even out of the search menu, there wouldn't be much harm in that. Most of our staff knows it as "F1" anyhow and those who don't almost certainly use "Circulation -> Check out Items" particularly as there is no "searching" involved, as was mentioned in a previous message in this thread.

-Bill


-- 
Bill Rockwood
Network Specialist, Traverse Area District Library
231-932-8506

>>> George.Duimovich at NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca 6/17/2009 4:29 PM >>>

Interesting -- I know around here I've heard both kinds of feedback -- one colleague complained about "too many access points" while in the same discussion there were others who responded that they liked having access to to key functionality via in multiple places.

I actually don't mind the multiple entry points, although arguably there is some nuance to how many points you need and what access points should be in multiple places when UI "real estate" is limited. 

In our case, we don't use barcode searching anywhere near as much as we do F4 searches, so taking it out of the Circ menu wouldn't be noticed much by our staff .. :)

George Duimovich, MLIS
NRCan Library / Bibliothèque de RNCan


-----Original Message-----
From: open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Laura M.
Sent: June 17, 2009 15:54
To: Evergreen Development Discussion List
Subject: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] Circulation Menu in the Staff Client

So, I'm going along and I'm adding some functionality to the Staff Client in Evergreen when I realize that we have two ways of looking up a patron by barcode (actually three or four, depending on how technical you want to get).  One way to do this is under the 'Search' menu, the other way is under the 'Circulation' menu.  Being that I'm a maven for usability and user-centered design, this multiple entry point thing is making me twitchy.  But having an identical menu option in a menu that has nothing to do with searches, AND there is a 'Search' menu right next to the 'Circ' menu....well, I just want to remove this entry point.

Does anyone have any major objections to this? I am NOT, in ANY WAY, removing Search Patron by Barcode, I am JUST taking out a redundant menu item that has no place being where it is.

I'm trying to make Evergreen a bit more user-friendly and have a few more formal usability specifications and this is a good place to start.

Thanks for any feedback!  If I don't get any threats in 48 hours I'll remove the tumorous menu item and Search Patron by Barcode will be under
*just* the 'Search' menu, where it's always been and will always remain :)

Thanks!

Laura McFarland -- Developer
Equinox Software