ui: easy to mess up large set creation

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I tried to create a large set by selecting hundreds of photos and clicking the 
sidebar "Create set with items".

While curating the selection, I kept accidentally missing the checkmark and 
clicking a thumbnail, leading me to the permanode page.  And when pressing back 
in my browser, my carefully curated set selection was gone.

Possible fixes, none particularly suggested:

- default to opening in new tab instead when anything is selected
- remember the state for when I press back (or encode it in the URL?)
- make the click target silently larger when we're in selection mode.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by bradfitz on 24 Nov 2014 at 6:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I was thinking about this too. The multi-selection action is really error-prone.

Couple ideas:
1) Work to avoid the situation where a user needs to mass select by allowing 
simplified set creation (or tagging) while uploading.
ex: Following an upload, prompt the user whether or not they would like to make 
these items a set (or add tags)

2) Currently the checkmark size scales down along with the thumbnails to make 
room for the sidebar. In this way it becomes even easier to misclick while 
you're trying to bulk-select. At a minimum, the checkmark should stay the same 
size. But....

3) Even better, implement a 'selection' mode. This could be something the user 
consciously selects (Bulk edit?), or maybe it is just based upon the user's 
actions.
ex: After the first item is selected, the existing action of clicking on a 
thumbnail to get to the permanode detail page is disabled (no more mis-clicks). 
In 'selection' mode, all thumbnails display a much larger click target rather 
than just the little check in the top corner. Once the selection is cleared, 
the link when clicking on a thumbnail functions again as currently.

Original comment by mail...@gmail.com on 24 Nov 2014 at 8:57

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I've had this problem too.

Mario:

I think whatever you do in 1) (which is still useful in itself) won't really 
fix the problem as I'm sure we'll still want to mass select afterwards even 
with that kind of help. I build all kinds of sets after I've uploaded.
2) is similar to brad's 3rd suggestion, isn't it? (and sgtm).
3) might help, but I'm not sure it's easy to come up with something that does 
not get in the way. I definitely still want to be able to easily see the image 
aspect of any thumbnail while I'm mass selecting, so I can double-check as I go 
that what I'm selecting looks good.

Remembering the state sounds great but is probably hard to do? I'd like the 
opening in a new tab solution in the meantime, but I seem to remember Aaron 
needing some time for doing that properly?

Original comment by mathieu....@gmail.com on 25 Nov 2014 at 4:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Not sure that I was especially clear, but after re-reading all of the comments 
I think everyone is thinking the same thing.

To summarize:
1) Modifying the upload process to include set creation / tagging the uploaded 
items may be a nice UX enhancement, but won't entirely fix the issue, because 
the need to multi-select still exists (agreed).

2) 'Embiggening' the checkmark while in selection mode sounds like a worthwhile 
improvement.

3) Changing the link target to open in a new tab could help alleviate misclicks 
(and resulting loss of selection). Question: is the link actually useful once 
you've started selecting? I think possibly yes, in case you're trying to narrow 
down a selection between thumbnails that look similar.

4) Making the current selection more stateful/'RESTful' (so not lost if 
accidentally navigated away from)

They all sound like reasonable enhancements. Off-hand #4 seems like the most 
work.

Original comment by mail...@gmail.com on 25 Nov 2014 at 7:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

agreed.

And to clarify what I was saying about opening in a new tab:
http://camlistore.org/issue/434

Original comment by mathieu....@gmail.com on 26 Nov 2014 at 10:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This issue has moved to https://camlistore.org/issue/552

Original comment by bradfitz on 14 Dec 2014 at 11:37

• Changed state: Moved
• Added labels: IssueMoved, Restrict-AddIssueComment-Commit