School Selector - Display Full School Name

[evanbailey]

The abbreviations are going to be a bit confusing where they don't match the schools usual abbreviation, which will be quite common due to duplication. Please display the full school name.

Maybe we need to allow duplicate abbreviations, where the school is in a different state?

[peter-drew]

The abbreviation is user editable (and the screen to do so is forced upon the user when they login for the first time, and on a new school they must provide the abbreviation), but the current length limitation of 5 characters may mean the usual abbreviation can't be used.

I can replace abbreviation school name in the dropdown, but that may have consequences for the UI down the track, especially on smaller screens.

I would prefer to fix the abbreviation so that it is a useful field, as this means it can be used more reliably in the schedule, draw etc and ensures consistency. I'm reluctant to allow duplicates across different states because this would still be a problem for nationals. Would increasing the length of the abbreviation field solve the issue, say to 15 characters? The current 5 character limit is quite arbitrary, we can quite easily accommodate a fixed length of 15 (or even 20) characters across the entire data flow, but not the 100 characters that is the current school name field limit.

[evanbailey]

The abbreviation is user editable (and the screen to do so is forced upon the user when they login for the first time, and on a new school they must provide the abbreviation), but the current length limitation of 5 characters may mean the usual abbreviation can't be used.

I can replace abbreviation school name in the dropdown, but that may have consequences for the UI down the track, especially on smaller screens. I think it will be fine, the vast majority of users are going to be on a laptop/desktop

I would prefer to fix the abbreviation so that it is a useful field, as this means it can be used more reliably in the schedule, draw etc and ensures consistency. I'm reluctant to allow duplicates across different states because this would still be a problem for nationals. Would increasing the length of the abbreviation field solve the issue, say to 15 characters? The current 5 character limit is quite arbitrary, we can quite easily accommodate a fixed length of 15 (or even 20) characters across the entire data flow, but not the 100 characters that is the current school name field limit. Definitely keep the abbreviation, just don't use it for the school selector. My thoughts with the allowing duplicates between states is a the nationals the schedules could use it in conjunction with the state code. It will be very handy for printed schedules.

[Dalordish]

RE display of the name:

I think this is a case where we can have our cake and eat it too. We can simply use the school name if it fits, and if not/on a mobile environment, display the abbreviation code. If this hasn't been picked up by the time my exams end, I'll probably do it as part of a general frontend refactor/pass that I'm planning on doing.

RE allowing duplication with state codes:

I'm personally in favour of enforcing uniqueness across states, with similar aims to yours. I think it's marginally easier to be able to identiify a shortcode, rather than have to compare both state and shortcode as a compound key. That way, as long as you remember your shortcode, you can identify anything relating to your school. (This is particularly useful in any space constrained environment - you only have to put MHS, or MDHS, rather than VIC MHS, NSW MDHS)

I'm not sure how much of an issue abbreviation/shortcode collisions will realistically be. There are obviously a few cases where the most intuitive abbreviation might be taken, but a) That still may occur within a state and b) I think it's relatively easy to be creative with 5 characters (Say, Melbourne High School, and Middle high school: MHS, MDHS, or even Melbourne High School, Melbourne High School, and Melbourne High School - MHS, MLHS, MELHS)

If this does become a bigger/very common issue, having the state in combination with the shortcode might become neccesary (and/or expanding the length of the shortcode, like @peter-drew mentioned), but I'm not sure that's the case at the moment.

[evanbailey]

I am always in favour of infinite cake!

I ran into a heap of duplicates when adding in all the WA schools. Lets try making it 10 chars (inc spaces), so then we could have things like Melb HS, Bris BC, GlenWav PS etc. We would need to reprompt mentors with a 'School codes can now be up to 10 chars, please take a moment to update yours if desired.'

[peter-drew]

To do:

• [ ] Adaptive dropdown depending on screen size
• [ ] Increase school abbreviation max_length
• [ ] Prompt user on first login - might want to consider implementing a broader 'what's changed' notification system