[OPEN-ILS-DEV] [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] browser staff feedback request / integration

[Jeff Davis]

On 2014-04-04 09:37AM, Galen Charlton wrote:
> +1 for the reasons that folks have already mentioned.  My main caveat
> is to try to anticipate and avoid situations where folks would not
> only have to switch from browser to XUL often, but would also need to
> maintain a lot of context while doing so.
> 
> As a contrived example, if v1 of the web-based circulation interface
> let you do everything except register patrons, switching to the staff
> client to add a new patron, then switching back to the browser to scan
> their barcode and check out their first items wouldn't be ideal, but
> it wouldn't be difficult or slow to make the transition.  This is
> because the only thing needed to maintain the context during the
> transition is scanning a patron barcode.
> 
> Conversely, as another contrived example, if v1 of web-based circ
> required that you jump to the XUL staff client during a checkout
> session to add a pre-cat, that would be more disruptive, as it
> scatters the overall workflow of "check out a bunch of items" across
> two interfaces, and raises questions like whether the patron would end
> up with two checkout receipts.

I think this caveat is pretty important.  Ideally, no individual
workflow would require switching between the XUL client and the browser.
In Galen's first example, switching isn't too much of a problem because
you are also switching between conceptually distinct workflows (and
indeed between different interfaces within the existing XUL client).  As
Dan suggested earlier, if development focuses on "fleshing out modules
on a workflow-by-workflow basis as much as possible," we'll mitigate a
lot of the pain in having multiple clients.

Jeff