[Sigia-l] form picklists with verbatim

[Avi Rappoport]

Yes, I've used lists like this, including Apple's font menus.  The 
trick is to make it very clear about the fact that the option is 
open, otherwise people assume they can only choose from the list. 
Apple has an editable field *and* menu items Smaller and Larger, and 
indeed they take you to font size 13, for example.  But I think only 
a very small minority of the users ever noticed that.   Menus just 
feel static.

Even in HTML, I've had pretty good luck with checkboxes or radio 
buttons surrounded by a visual box and the word "other" followed by 
an editable field.  For example, in my survey, I list the most common 
file formats and allow people to add their own, it works quite well, 
I get a lot of typed entries.

Hope that helps,

Avi

At 10:20 AM -0400 5/2/02, Susan Paulsen wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>Has anyone seen or worked with a web based implementation of the 
>form element picklist that also allows verbatim text to be entered 
>(thus forming another item in the picklist).
>
>I'm currently working with a dhtml implementation of this which:
>1. allows user to select from picklist
>2. if picklist doesn't hold a selection they need they click an icon 
>next to the list that pops up an  input field
>3. user enters text in input field
>
>I'd be interested in viewing or reading about alternate web based 
>implementations of picklists with verbatim, or hearing any ideas 
>about this web interface problem.

-- 
Search Server Industry Analysis from Search Tools Consulting
    (510) 845-2551  -- <mailto: analyst at searchtools.com>
Complete Guide to Search Engines for Web Sites and Intranets
    <http://www.searchtools.com>