Description
Magnolia should let me navigate and browse my web site structure by using a mouse or a keyboard.
Selecting, highlighting, selected for operations
A single item may be selected by clicking on it or selecting it by clicking the Enter key on the keyboard. If activated, the "Page details" display will then show additional details of the highlighted item (to be defined separately).
A row is also visually highlighted on mouse over or by moving on the item using the up or down arrow key. No page details of a highlighted item are displayed, however. This is to prevent the interface from changing too rapidly, to keep it responsive and to prevent high load on the server.
One or more pages may be selected for operations by checking a checkbox assigned to the page. A subsequently started operation (such as a delete or copy operation) will then be performed sequentially on any checked item.
Opening, closing folder item
A folder item is a regular item, which - in addition to its tasks defined by its type - contains other items. Folder items may be opened or closed by clicking on a visual indicator displayed right next to an item's icon (not shown in the mockup below).
When using a keyboard, clicking the right arrow key opens the currently highlighted folder item, expanding the tree view to also show its contained sub items. Clicking the left arrow key closes the folder item and thus collapses to view again to only show the folder item itself.
Open an item for editing or further inspection
By double-clicking an item or hitting the Enter key on an already selected item (- a second time, because you already hit it once to select it), a separate window opens, which shows an edit or inspection view of the item depending on the permissions of the logged in user.
Show, hide and rearrange table columns
All columns except the "Page name" and the column containing the checkboxes can be visible or hidden. Additional columns not initially visible may be offered for display by the tree view.
Columns are shown in a configurable order, but the "Page name" and checkboxes column are exempt and remain fixed at their initial position.
When using the keyboard, the column order and the hide/show settings of a column must be specified on a separate settings page still to be defined.
Requirements
Both input methods (mouse and keyboard) must be largely equivalent, mainly for accessibility reasons. But using the keyboard must also be regarded as the input method of choice for power users and thus must be fast and convenient for typical day-to-day operations.
The tree view must perform well even for very large sites. To achieve this, pages should only be loaded as they become visible. A visual indicator must make clear that additional data is being loaded from the network.
Likewise, items of a folder page (see "opening, closing folder pages" above), which will become visible by opening it, could already be preloaded in the background.
Open questions
Inline editing??
Messages: errors (obtrusive)
warnings (un-obtrusive)
informational (unobtrusive)