[schooltool-dev] Re: UI Questions: "It's all about the look!"

[Tom Hoffman]

On 2/21/07, David Welsh <rdavidw at gmail.com> wrote:
> I totally agree with the Carduner recap.  Implement dropdowns quickly.
> Discuss the tabbed interface to help everyone understand.

The general design of the tabbed interface is very simple and common,
really a lot simpler than it ended up sounding when we were designing
it.  I think Martijn Faassen (or Kit Blake?) pointed out that it is
pretty much the http://apple.com design.  It is also the design of the
current WordPress admin screens and lots of others once you start
looking for it.  That is, you've got a row of tabs, and when you
select a tab you have a second row of buttons (or tabs, same thing,
pretty much) for further navigation.  Just go to http://apple.com if
this is confusing.

Each main tab is a major component/task installed on that particular
server, e.g., Dashboard | CanDo | Calendar | Attendance |

We did complexify it a bit by allowing "temporary tabs" to be created
to view individual students.  Perhaps we should just ditch that if it
isn't already working properly.

> Focus mainly on
> resource scheduling.  Resource scheduling is a good prize.  I'll understand
> more about overall SchoolTool navigation once we get resource scheduling
> going and I'm frequently using two modules.  Drop-downs make navigation for
> Resource Management a lot better.  Without them, I don't even feel like
> testing Resource Management in SchoolTool trunk.  Save bigger/possibly
> better tabbing ideas for later.  --Welsh

OK, but is there more of a difference between the two than I'm
thinking?  I mean, is it more than just the location of the menu?  And
the big gaping gap in our specifications thus far is what Joe Teacher
should do when he wants to reserve the auditorium and a projector for
next Tuesday period C.  Right now, in SchoolTool trunk there are
problems with resource management but difficult navigation isn't one
of them.

1) Log in;
2) User calendar is default view;
3) Navigate to the right date;
4) Click on the right time;
5) Add the resources in question to your new event, set the time, etc.

Do we need an alternative route?  If so, what is it?

--Tom