end-user locking of otherwise re-orderable objects

[Andrew Petro]

Gary,


> Has anyone else come up with a scenario for the general user to lock a
> portlet?



In general, end users lock controls when they are concerned that they  
will otherwise accidentally modify them.

For instance, some cell phones have an ability to lock a contact in  
the in-phone address book, which introduces an additional step to  
later modify (delete) the contact.

IF the user experience for modifying layout were so awkward that I  
were worried I might mangle parts of it, then I guess as I user I'd  
want to be able to lock parts.  I think the preferred approach here is  
to have a sufficiently easy-to-use experience that I don't need to  
protect myself from myself.  Idioms like undo and appropriate  
workflows for applying destructive change make explicit locking  
unnecessary.  I usually think the locking idiom on cell phones is  
silly -- *automatically* "lock" my contacts, *of course* I don't want  
to accidentally delete them.

But broadly that's a way I could see end-user-chosen locking could be  
used.

Andrew



On Jan 8, 2008, at 1:50 PM, Gary Thompson wrote:

> Barbara,
>
> Currently, portlets are locked and unlocked only by administrators.
> This keeps with main goal behind locking portlets, which is for
> institutions to ensure that certain content is prioritized in the  
> layout.
>
> I can't think of any scenarios where the general user would want to  
> lock
> a portlet, and no scenarios of that type surfaced in my research.
>
> Has anyone else come up with a scenario for the general user to lock a
> portlet?
>
> Gary
>
> Barbara Glover wrote:
>> Hi Gary
>> Does the user decide if a portlet is locked?  Or is that the
>> administrator?  Or depends on the institution?  Can a user unlock a
>> portlet?
>>
>> thanks
>> Barbara
>>
>> On 8-Jan-08, at 12:32 PM, Anastasia Cheetham wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 2-Jan-08, at 1:59 PM, Gary Thompson wrote:
>>>
>>>> So, my conclusion for the DnD reordering of portlets is to go with
>>>> our initial gut instinct:
>>>>
>>>> * locked portlets always go to the top of column
>>>> * if there is more than one locked portlet, they are ordered by
>>>> priority (a system parameter set and changed by an administrator)
>>>> * reorderable portlets may not go above locked portlets within a
>>>> column (or between locked portlets if there are more than one)
>>>
>>>
>>> Gary, thanks for doing that research, and producing this summary.
>>>
>>> Just to clarify: Locked portlets will always be at the top of their
>>> current column, but locked portlets can be present in any column?  
>>> They
>>> are not restricted to the leftmost column?
>>>
>>> Assuming that locked portlets can exist in any column, can they be
>>> moved between columns?
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Anastasia Cheetham                   a.cheetham at utoronto.ca
>>> Software Designer, Fluid Project
>>> Adaptive Technology Resource Centre / University of Toronto
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> fluid-work mailing list
>>> fluid-work at fluidproject.org
>>> http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>>
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