[Usability]HIG: interaction and idiom

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

There are two topic I'd like to see covered in the HIG: general interaction
and idioms.

Interaction
-----------
These are questions to be answered in the HIG:
Generally, how should an application fit into the rest of the environment?
A few specific questions:
  When should a new window be opened?
  When should an existing window be presented?
  Where should a window be placed?

(I have my own answers, but I'm trying to keep this message short.)

Idioms
------
Please see: http://time-tripper.com/uipatterns/
Some affordances can present the same general form wherever they appear.
For example:

  Adding, Editing, and Removing Items from a Simple List

  To allow editing a simple list, provide a listbox with editable rows and
  buttons to add or remove items from the list. See ASCII graphic.

    _Simple List:
    +--------------------------------+
    | item A                         |  [ _Add... ]
    | item B                         |  [ _Remove ]
    | item C                         |
    |  .                             |
    |  .                             |
    |  .                             |
    +--------------------------------+

  The access key of the list title (the `s' in "Simple List") moves
  keyboard focus to the selected item in the list or, if none of the
  items is selected, the first item.
  Clicking on an unselected item selects the item.
  Clicking on a selected item enters the editing mode.
  Pressing the spacebar when a selected item is focused enters the editing
  mode.

  The editing mode may be left by pressing Enter or moving focus to another
  item or outside of the list. Showing a right-click menu for the item does
  not leave editing mode.

  The Add... button appends a new blank item to the list, focuses the item,
  and enters editing mode for the item. Do not use a dialog box for adding
  items to a simple list; the ellipsis indicates that more input is expected,
  not that a dialog box will appear.

  The Remove button removes the selected item from the list. When no
  item is selected, disable the Remove button.

This can be elaborated for multi-column lists, lists with some uneditable
items, contrained lists, and so forth.  Trees would probably be an extension
of this.

Omitted here are answers to questions like:
  When should a simple list be used?
  Why provide a simple list instead of ... ?
  How does drag-and-drop interact with a simple list?
  What items are on the right-click menu for an item?

Basically the idioms are combinations of other controls for a particular
class of purposes.

What are your thoughts on having this kind of material in the HIG?
Would you like to contribute?

If there is a flurry of interest, I'll try to make a template for
idiom sections; an idiom idiom. ;-)


Cheers,
Greg Merchan