Re: [Evolution-hackers] Category Searching

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo ximian com>]

On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 02:19 -0500, Bryan Clark wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-02-02 at 12:10 +0200, Tuomas Kuosmanen wrote:
> > Hm, what if we include all categories the user has "seen" - I mean, all
> > of the "native" evo-supplied ones plus any category that has been seen
> > in an address card in addition to those? So that Evo would "remember"
> > any special ones once it has been encountered once..? Is this something
> > that could work?
> 
> I like this idea, it would keep the list simple until the user
> complicates it on their own with lots of their categories.  Somethings
> related that might need to be worked out would be: How is the category
> list manageable?   How long is a category kept after it hasn't been
> seen?  Do we keep a category that's only been seen once?
> 
yes, we should, since we want to let the user search by that category.

> But I think the idea is in a good direction for this problem.
> 
> > The long list issue is something that sucks though, do we need to use
> > autocompleting combobox-like widget instead of the option menu?
> > Something like the composer uses for To: -field etc?
> 
> I disagree with this, Category systems are not really triggered via
> recall methods, rather recognition (i.e. one does not remember/'recall'
> all the categories they have created, but 'recognizes' them when they
> see them and probably recalls what they are for after).   
> 
> The composer To: field can rely on user recall since people need to know
> who they are emailing almost before they start and as long as they have
> a cue that is close to the address, like name/nickname/email-address the
> auto-complete can assist with getting the address exactly right.
> Categories on the other hand are not as easy to remember as peoples
> names, for obvious reasons like people are real things that you might
> have some kind of relationship with vs. categories are made up meta-
> information types.  Imagine if it was Work - Project A or Ximian -
> Project A... each category require you to type ahead... then delete and
> try again, maybe it was Novell - Project A? :-)
> 
> I'd recommend a Category system using drop-down options.  In order to
> lighten the amount of categories I think we could do a few things.  
> 
> 	1. Go with a small finite set 
> 	2. Create easy way to modify the set
> 	3. Use the 'seen' method tigert suggested
> 
for 2, we should probably allow the user to enter custom icons for each
new category, from the master categories list dialog.

cheers