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

[Ziya Oz]

"Heller, David" wrote:

> 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 exactly is the requirement? What is the (perceived) problem?
 
> What do people think of the use of this control?
> Why isn't there a similar control for time used on the web?

Many of these controls work best when they are smooth, instantaneous,
nimble, unambiguous, and easy to use. That's not a problem if the app runs
locally, but on the web there are issues. DHTML hacks can be slow and not
universally compatible with various browsers. Ones that require a separate
trip to the server are slow. Etc.

But, again, the more interesting  question is: what problem are you solving?
There's, for instance, a problem in acquiring date/time info from an
international userbase. There's also the problem of excessive overhead of
having to parse all these fields at the server for accuracy and consistency,
if the fields are designed to take accept free-form input or input not
customized for a given location.

I think you'd save time if you broke down the problem into discrete issues
that you know to be problematic either at the user-end or at the back-end.

Best,

Ziya