[OPEN-ILS-DEV] possible staff client changes--holds pull lists, patron summary sidebar, checkout due date entry, and billing interface (with screenshots)

[Jason Etheridge]

Hi folks, I've been doing development work on some of the staff client
interfaces in trunk and want to garner some feedback.  All of these
screenshots are of the client in a 1024x768 sized desktop.

There are a few specific things on my mind in case you want to skim
through my email:
  * Holds Pull Lists
  * Patron Summary Sidebar
  * Checkout due date entry
  * Billing Interface

The first thing on my mind are the hold pull lists.  We have 3
interfaces, one in the main Circulation menu, and 2 others that are
buried elsewhere.  If there are no objections, I'd like to standardize
on one and deprecate (and eventually remove) the other two.  Here are
some screenshots:

http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/pull_list1.png
http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/pull_list2.png
http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/pull_list3.png

My preference would be to go with pull_list2, since this is actually
the same interface that is used for other holds displays in the staff
client (Patron->Holds, Record Summary->View Holds, Circulation->Browse
Hold Shelf, etc.), and it already has a lot of actions available that
can act upon the holds.  I'd also want to add true paging
functionality to it so we could step forwards and backwards through
pages of results.  Thoughts?  If anyone is still using pull_list3, I
think we could re-implement it in a simpler and more maintainable way
as a printing option for pull_list2 using a server side template.

The second thing on my mind is the patron summary sidebar.  In trunk,
I'm maintaining two versions of it, controllable by an org unit
setting.

Here is the default vertical version, making things a little cramped
at 1024x768 resolution:

http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/vertical_patron_summary.png

And here is the horizontal version, giving us more effective screen
real estate for the sub-interfaces, but displaying less information
itself than the original summary:

http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/horizontal_patron_summary.png
http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/horizontal_patron_summary2.png

I'm wanting to know how folks feel about the horizontal summary, how
we can improve it, and whether we can get away with deprecating and
eventually removing the vertical summary.

One other thing happening trunk regarding the summary sidebar is that
it disappears automatically when you switch to a different
sub-interface (the assumption being that you've verified who the
patron is by that point and now you'd rather have more screen real
estate), and it can be toggled back on through a menu option or pulled
back open with the mouse.  There are smaller changes you may be
noticing here was well, such as the colored border around the patron's
name (usability issue Joe pointed out), and the information beneath
the sub-interface navigation buttons.

And of course, the checkout interface:

http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/checkout_duedate.png

We now have a calendar widget, and the ability to enter a specific
due-time for circulations of less than a day in duration (though this
needs more testing).  Would anyone miss and still want a drop down
menu for Today + 3 Days, etc.?  The new date picker lets you tab
through the fields and use the arrow keys to set the date and time, in
addition to offering the calendar.

Finally, there is a new billing interface, which is mostly a mock-up
at the moment, and likely to change a bit:

http://evergreen-ils.org/~phasefx/screenshots2/billing_interface.png

The thought here is to make better use of screen real estate, and to
make the important things more obvious.  Options like Full Details and
Void All Billings exist under the Actions for Selected Rows menu.  I
also plan to allow direct editing of the Payment Pending column for
specific transactions, though I'm not sure whether to recalculate the
main Payment Received field based on such edits, or allow them to
disagree and just disable the Apply Payment button and make things red
in color until the numbers add up.

What do you think?

-- 
Jason Etheridge
 | VP, Tactical Development
 | Equinox Software, Inc. / The Evergreen Experts
 | phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
 | email:  jason at esilibrary.com
 | web:  http://www.esilibrary.com