[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Feature Proposal: New Tab

[Andrew Coomes]

Happy holidays everyone! We ( Catalyst ) have worked on this feature over
the past couple of weeks, taking into account all the great input we
received. We feel that our code is ready for testing & review, and the
branch link has been added to the feature wiki, blueprint and bug report.

As our team is still relatively new to this process, please let us know if
we can/should do anything differently for future contributions.


Thank you,
Andrew Coomes
Developer


On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 7:32 AM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I think there are two different cases we need to consider here: the end
> user who is searching the public catalog and the staff person who is
> searching the catalog in the client.
>
> For the public catalog, I think it's advisable to replicate the behavior
> seen in other search services (Google, Amazon, Bing) because this is the
> experience users have come to expect. When you perform searches on these
> sites, when the user clicks on a link, they stay in their own tab/window.
> For those who care about tab behavior and are in a browser that supports
> it, they will open a result in a new tab by whatever means is available in
> that browser. They will also be able to do so when they are searching
> Evergreen. I put a lot of faith into what I'm sure is highly-funded
> usability testing done by Google and Amazon.
>
> I had been thinking this proposal was primarily concerned with the staff
> client, where staff have very little control over opening search results in
> a new tab. I have often been frustrated when I can't open several titles
> from a search results page into different tabs.
>
> I also think the Ctrl-click behavior (or a context menu) is ideal here. In
> most cases, I know what I'm looking for and want to load the result in my
> current tab. However, when I'm doing a subject-specific search where I may
> want to look at several records, I prefer to open them in a new tab so that
> I can open them at one time and then deal with them, rather than clicking
> back and forth between a title record and the search results screen.
>
> I'm also concerned that any automatic behavior could become problematic
> because users may not be aware of how many tabs they have opened. In
> systems that have set a ceiling to the number of tabs that could be opened,
> the user may quickly reach that maximum and become annoyed. In systems
> where users can have unlimited tabs open, you may come across cases where
> the staff client starts using a lot of memory because there are now 30 tabs
> open. In this particular case, I think it's better that the staff person be
> conscious of the fact that he/she has opened a new tab.
>
> Kathy
>
> Kathy Lussier
> Project Coordinator
> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
> (508) 343-0128
> klussier at masslnc.org
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/**kmlussier<http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier>
>
>
> On 10/18/2012 8:26 AM, James Keenan wrote:
>
>> Functional Testing Report
>>
>> The question: does Ctrl+left click consistently open a new tab for a
>> basic search in the TPAC in the latest versions of popular
>> "standards-compliant" browsers?
>>
>> The test: In TPAC basic search, type "mark twain" in the search text box
>> and hold the Ctrl key while clicking on the search button.
>>
>> Desired/Expected result: Search results open in a new tab.
>>
>> Limitations on mitigating a failure: if the browser failed to produce the
>> desired behavior and if settings to allow the desired behavior were
>> available under the browser's preferences or options, these settings were
>> used and the browser restarted and re-tested.
>>
>> Test Summary: six web browsers were tested; three succeeded in opening a
>> new tab; three failed to open a new tab.
>>
>> All tests were done on Windows 7 Professional.
>>
>> Successes:
>>
>> Google Chrome Version 22.0.1229.94 m
>> Test: success; a second tab opened containing the search results
>>
>> Opera 12.02
>> Test: success; a second tab opened containing the search results
>>
>> Safari 5.0.2 (7533.18.5)
>> Test: success; a second tab opened containing the search results
>>
>> Failures:
>>
>> Internet Explorer 9
>> Test: failure; the search results appeared in the same window; did not
>> open separate tab.
>> Did not find any settings that resulted the desired behavior.
>>
>> Firefox 16.0.1
>> Test: the search results appeared in the same window; did not open
>> separate tab.
>> Did not find any settings that allowed the desired behavior. Read that
>> there was an addon that could force the behavior to happen.
>>
>> SeaMonkey 2.11
>> Test: failure; the search results appeared in the same window; did not
>> open separate tab.
>> There were several settings under Edit > Preferences that seemed to
>> promise links would be opened in a new tab. After setting these preferences
>> and restarting the browser, the expected behavior did not appear for basic
>> search.
>>
>>
>> Jim Keenan
>> Access Services Supervisor
>> jkeenan at cwmars.org
>> 508-755-3323 x23
>>   C/W MARS
>> 67 Millbrook St., Suite 201
>> Worcester, MA 01606
>>
>>    Save a tree! Please don't print this e-mail unless it's really
>> necessary.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: open-ils-dev-bounces at list.**georgialibraries.org<open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org>[mailto:
>> open-ils-dev-bounces@**list.georgialibraries.org<open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org>]
>> On Behalf Of Jason Etheridge
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:09 PM
>> To: Evergreen Development Discussion List
>> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] Feature Proposal: New Tab
>>
>>  The way people use tabs can often be very personal to their own
>>> workflows and decisions.
>>>
>>> Just voicing concern on that front, perhaps others can weigh in too.
>>>
>> Control+clicking is a common idiom with web browsers for opening links
>> new tabs/windows.
>>
>> I'd be in favor of that behavior with no settings needed.
>>
>> -- Jason
>>
>
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