[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Fwd: Opinions needed on copying patron data to the clipboard

McCanna, Terran tmccanna at georgialibraries.org
Wed Nov 6 18:44:11 EST 2013


My personal thoughts on this (not speaking for the rest of PINES) - 

First, if the average person clicks on something, they will expect something on the screen to visually change - a pop up message, a new window, a value change, etc.

Second, when most people see an underlined link, they are not at all likely to expect that clicking on the link will copy the value because that is a very unusual thing for clicking on a link to do. The acknowledgement message serves to inform them that that is what they have done. 

If people do not like the acknowledgement message because it forces an extra click, I would suggest rethinking the link itself. Perhaps, instead of an underlined link, there should be a small button next to the text that either has the word "copy" on it or has the little symbol for copy? 

Terran McCanna 
PINES Program Manager 
Georgia Public Library Service 
1800 Century Place, Suite 150 
Atlanta, GA 30345 
404-235-7138 
tmccanna at georgialibraries.org 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Toma" <scrlheadlib at gmail.com>
To: "Evergreen Discussion Group" <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 6, 2013 5:51:36 PM
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Fwd: Opinions needed on copying patron data to the clipboard





I totally agree with Kate Butler. A simple acknowledgement that it's been done is needed. 
Mary Toma 
Head Librarian 
South Central Regional Library 




On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 2:28 PM, Kathy Lussier < klussier at masslnc.org > wrote: 



Hi all, 

I thought I sent this message to the list months ago, but it looks like it got lost on its way. 

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this question! 

Kathy 


Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative (508) 343-0128 klussier at masslnc.org Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier 

-------- Original Message -------- 
Subject: 	Opinions needed on copying patron data to the clipboard 
Date: 	Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:36:59 -0400 
From: 	Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org> 
To: 	Evergreen General Discussion List <open-ils-general at list.georgialibraries.org> 

Hi all,

I'm seeking opinions on a change that was made in 2.4 when copying 
information from the patron editor to the clipboard. Prior to 2.4, when 
a user clicked on a link in the patron summary, they would receive an 
alert confirming that the data had been copied to the clipboard (see 
attached image).

The alert was removed in 2.4 and a bug has been filed on the issue - https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1192189 .

There are pros and cons to removing the confirmation message.

The pros of removing the message are that it conforms with wider user 
interface standards. Basically, you don't receive this kind of 
confirmation when copying data using CTRL-C or a shortcut menu. The 
message can also be seen as an annoyance as it requires an additional click.

On the con side, it can be somewhat disconcerting to click on that link 
and not receive a confirmation, leading the user to wonder if the data 
was really copied. It's uncommon in other software to use underlined 
text for copying data, and the confirmation message provides a visual 
cue as to the action that was just taken.

Although I filed the original bug report, I have to say I'm on the fence 
with this issue. However, I do think it's important that the end users 
who are using the patron editor on a daily basis provide some feedback 
on this feature.

Since I filed the bug, three more people have shown support for 
restoring the confirmation message. However, if there are people who 
were happy to see that the message went away, I don't think we would 
have heard from them in Launchpad because they wouldn't have bothered to 
take the time to determine if a bug were filed.

I thought it would be best to do an informal poll of the community 
through the general list to see if there is interest in restoring the 
confirmation message or if people are happy with its removal. I'm hoping 
we can get a feel of the general consensus through an e-mail thread 
rather than setting up a formal poll.

Let me know what you think!

Kathy

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative (508) 343-0128 klussier at masslnc.org Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier 




-- 
Mary Toma 
Head Librarian 
South Central Regional Library 
160 Main Street 
Box 1540 
Winkler, MB R6W 4B4 
204-325-5864 


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