[Sigia-l] Calendar Control and date/time input

[Patrick Hunt]

Regarding the issue of time, I think it is much easier to accurately choose
my desired time without the use of visual clues, and also easier to input
this information as text (assuming the programmer has allowed for multiple
variations "6 p" "6 pm" 6 p.m." "6:00 pm"--or time in one field and am/pm as
a radio button or select list).

I favor the text input fields in my calendar program so that I can specify
"6:03 pm" but I prefer the select lists on most travel sites when choosing
approximate departure times.

Its too bad that web forms don't support an option for choosing from a
select list or entering text, like FileMaker Pro (and likely other db
programs). I assume this is because of validation issues.

Today is Friday, April 12, 2002, and at approximately 6:01 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Savings time, I'll be having a happy hour beverage whether I have
to guess (type it in), pick it from the menu (select list) or point to one
of the options on the bar (use a visual device). Cheers!

> From: Faith D'Lamater <fdlamater at NEXGENIX.COM>
> Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 13:21:16 -0700
> To: "Heller, David" <david.heller at documentum.com>, "'SIGIA (E-mail)'"
> <sigia-l at asis.org>
> Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] Calendar Control and date/time input
> 
> Dave,
> 
> How appropriate that you raise this issue.  Two hours ago I accidentally
> bought a flight ticket for May when I intended April.  I blame it entirely
> on Continental.com's home page flight search set up and refuse to admit user
> error!  ;-)  
> 
> Pop-up calendars provide helpful cues that drop downs don't, such as today's
> date and day of the week.   Earlier today, if I had selected my departure
> date from a calendar, I would have seen the red circle around April 12 and
> immediately recognized that I need to travel three days from now, not next
> month.  (Don't laugh.. it's Friday... I'm very tired....)
> 
> Incidentally, Continental.com offers a popup calendar deeper in its site, so
> I'm thinking they tried to avoid weighing down the home page.  Of course
> this is valid, although I would wait longer for the extra convenience of a
> calendar, even if I wasn't using DSL.
> 
> BTW, my observations seem more applicable to travel dates, rather than
> birthdays or other events that are fixed in my mind and not important
> relatively to today's date, weekends, etc.
> 
> Faith
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Heller, David [mailto:david.heller at documentum.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 3:42 PM
> To: 'SIGIA (E-mail)'
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Calendar Control and date/time input
> 
> 
> 
> Hi gang, 
> 
> I've been contemplating the use of calendar controls (ya know, a calendar
> popsup in month format and allows you to click on a date to fill out a date
> form) as I'm creating an app that currently has a requirement for this.
> 
> What do people think of the use of this control?
> 
> Why isn't there a similar control for time used on the web?
> How do people feel when they have the calendar control & a text input field
> together? 
> How do people feel about time inputs as pull down menus vs. text input w/
> format hint (& validation)?
> 
> Any other comments regarding this subject would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> -- dave 
> 
> David Heller 
> Sr. UI Designer - User Experience Group
> Docuemtum, Inc. (Pleasanton #6025)
> 1-925-600-5636 
> http://www.documentum.com/ <http://www.documentum.com/>
> david.heller at documentum.com
> AIM: bolinhanyc // Yahoo: dave_ux //MSN: hippiefunk
> 
> -- "If it is not useful, it will never be usable."
> 
>