Usability deficit: No support for form field input history

verlsnake · Post by **verlsnake** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:32 pm

I have just noticed that Aware 4.0 UIs seem NOT to support browser form field input history, that is: Values, which have been typed into a form field before, are NOT suggested later on ... This "input value suggest pattern" - e.g. based on former input values - is supported for plain old HTML forms in all browsers; and for a good reason: One just does not want to type in repeating values over and over again ...
I found it annoying for example to type in the name of a self-created business space time and time again ...
Is this the price we have to pay for using a JS client-side framework like ExtJS ? Or can this important usability enhancement be activated somehow in Aware 4.0 UIs ?

aware_support · Post by **aware_support** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:45 am

You can make a change in the Aware IM's JavaScript to get it to work. This is easy enough, let us know if you want to check how to do this.

verlsnake · Post by **verlsnake** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:18 pm

I wouldn't have asked if I did not have the intention to change that to the better if at all possible; now that You say it IS actually possible: Yes, of course I want to know how to do that; I for one think this is such an important UI pattern/goodie that You should provide it out of the box.

tford · Post by **tford** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:09 pm

verlsnake,

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar"

4.0 made some really huge improvements that we've all been asking for / waiting for. I vote for giving them a bit a grace in this area. The 4.0 release probably would not have happened when it did if we each had all the things that we want/need "out of the box".

Tom

verlsnake · Post by **verlsnake** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:58 pm

Hi Tom !

I have neither flies nor vinegar in the modest little hut - called the "Lenkjöchelhütte" - I currently live in; so Your comment doesn't exactly help in this area

...

Of course I understand Your intention; but I honestly think that these forums are not there for appraisal, but mostly for constructive criticism.

Since I am currently not an Aware IM user, I don't care for predecessor versions at all ... All I care for is what can be done with the 4.0 version ... And I compare it to lots of other (web) app dev approaches ...

What I normally expect from new products is that they do not take steps backwards ... But Web 2.0 apps seem to miss some essential web 1.0 goodies ... This is really not related to Aware IM 4.0 alone ...

If I'm told how this input history feature can be enabled I am satisfied for now

; implementing this out of the box was only my recommendation ...

Tschüss

Kai

aware_support · Post by **aware_support** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:44 pm

Constructive criticism is certainly allowed and welcomed. As far as this feature is concerned - it just slipped through the cracks, but we can include the fix in the upcoming patch if the fix is easy enough.

Please try this and let us know if it worked - if it did we'll include the fix in the patch.

Open the file fields.js located in the AwareIM/Tomcat/webapps/AwareIM/aware_ext/field directory.

Search for this line:
autocomplete: "off"

Replace it with
autocomplete: "on"
everywhere

Refresh the browser so that it picks up the changes. Please let us know the outcome.

ab042 · Post by **ab042** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:01 am

My vote is to leave it OFF by default.

Its not a standard feature that we find in applications and we do not want it for our web application.

Just my 2 cents.

Then again it would be great if we could turn it on and off based on the form and or the application.

greg · Post by **greg** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:53 am

As for me I am also not so certain that this patronising feature is a must. I find IE to be very annoying with offering a long list of previous entries in a field. I have this feature switched off in my SeaMonkey browser

verlsnake · Post by **verlsnake** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 2:53 pm

I must admit that I have not spent much effort into learning browser features inside out ...

So today I took a closer look at "general form field input history" support in browsers; what did I find out ?
- In IE and FF "general form field input history" is available; and can be switched off/on via an option; IMO it doesn't get in the way because the history list is not shown when entering a form field in the first place.
- In Opera, I could NOT find support for "general form field input history"; what I could find is support for concrete personal data; but not for arbitrary form field data ...

From a user experience standpoint, I still think "general form field input history" is a must-have feature; it would be great if the option to switch it off/on was directly exposed to the users should it get in their way somehow; and therefore may occur as "patronising" to them ...

verlsnake · Post by **verlsnake** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:02 pm

I have changed all occurrences of 'autocomplete: "off"' to 'autocomplete: "on"' in AwareIM\Tomcat\webapps\AwareIM\aware_ext\field\fields.js.
But alone: Autocompletion does still not function; e.g. in the "New Customer" form of the CRM app; in IE as well as in FF.

verlsnake · Post by **verlsnake** » Sun May 10, 2009 9:18 pm

Does "form field input history" function in the Ajax (ExtJS) UI of apps developed with the latest AwareIM 4.5 version ?