Re: [xwiki-devs] [UX][Proposal] Annotation UI Improvements

Short story: Can't use modifier keys since there is no decent cross browser alternative. New "default" way: 1/ current solution presented at http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/AnnotationsProposa… but with more accessible "add" button (options?) 2/ when annotations are shown simple select triggers the display of annotation dialog 3/ simple select displays a little add icon to be clicked and display the annotation dialog (1/ with button next to selection) 4/ checkbox to enable 2/ WDYT? I think I like 2 or 4.

See below for long version. Thanks, Anca On 01/29/2010 04:36 PM, Anca Luca wrote: > Hi devs, > > On 01/16/2010 09:14 PM, Anca Luca wrote: > [snip] >> * adding an annotation could be done by pushing the "add button" then going in >> the content& selecting text and when the mouse is up, the create window >> appears. In other words, pushing the add button would have the same behaviour as >> holding the CTRL key down. Speaking of which, it seems that CTRL + select is >> reserved in firefox for selecting a table or smth, and I also think it's >> reserved to selecting full words in IEs. Could you investigate on that and try >> to figure out what other modifier could do the job? (if a modifier is required) > > I had a look at this and I have the following results: > * CTRL + select text: > - CTRL + mouse down is a shortcut for 'select full paragraph' in IE browsers > which means it will select the entire paragraph and will be hard to get the > selection working normally on the text you want to add annotation on (it's > possible to get to a normal select mode but with some pain). I haven't found a > way to prevent that behaviour > - CTRL + mouse down is a shortcut for selecting entire table cells in Firefox: > cannot select only the text in a cell, by any means. I haven't found a way to > prevent that behaviour > * ALT + select text: > - seems to be fine on all browsers, doesn't interfere with any other reserved > keys (tested on firefox, chrome, IE) under windows, some mac BUT > - on Ubuntu, the ALT+drag combination is a system function for moving windows > around on the screen. There is no way I can 'override' that from the browser. > * SHIFT + select text: > - It's weird on ff and chrome since it's an accessibility shortcut for selecting > text (for those who cannot drag). Namely if you hold shift while mouse down, it > will select all the content from the last click you made.) > > Because of all these, I think it would be hard to rely on some modifier key, so > we need a more accessible alternative. > > By also looking at some other annotations in other applications, I see the > following options: > 1/ the alternative described at: > http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/AnnotationsProposa… (but > which has dissappeared from the last proposal at > http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/AnnotationsPro… > ), except that it should be more accessible since it would now be the default > way of adding annotations. (making it visible on scroll for example) > 2/ while annotations are 'activated' (all or partially displayed on the > document) simply selecting (no modifier) will trigger the annotation dialog > 3/ simply selecting always displays a little icon which can be clicked to open > the create dialog (for example, the way the accelerators icon is added to > selected text on IE8). It would less annoy regular selection, and also enable > annotations on it, but it's an extraclick to add an annotation > 4/ provide a checkbox "annotations mode", which when activated (regardless of > whether other annotations are displayed or not), will trigger annotation add > dialog on simple select. This solution is similar to 1/ > > WDYT? How would you see it? > > Thanks a lot, > Anca