--On Thursday, August 3, 2006 7:14 PM -0400 emf i@mindlace.net wrote:

Thanks so much for the docking-boxes hookup.

~ethan

fyi...some drag and drop usability articles:

Drag and Drop Controls By Free Usability Advice. "Question: Are there any usability issues with using drag and drop controls in a web application?" Answer: "AJAX technology makes it easier to add drag and drop controls to a web application...Since web technologies haven't commonly supported drag and drop until now, it's difficult for users to understand when an object in the UI is draggable or droppable. It is especially difficult since the objects don't usually look different from objects that do not have this functionality. Adding visual affordances such as shading, cursor changes, text and other elements can help to communicate that an item is draggable...Before you decide to implement drag and drop, consider whether it is the right solution for your users. Don't just implement new technology for new technology's sake. If you do decide to use drag and drop functionality, make sure to give users a way to notice and learn the interaction." http://freeusabilityadvice.com/archive/28/drag-and-drop-controls

Usability by Hand, AJAX and Efficiency By Thomas Baekdal. "We have seen a huge amount of drag and drop...Some work, some are very interesting, but most of them directly kill your efficiency...Take drag and drop shopping carts...drag and drop is over 1000% slower than clicking an 'add to cart' button." http://www.baekdal.com/articles/Usability/usability-ajax-efficiency/

Drag 'n Drop is Invisible To Users By Jared Spool. "...They [Netflix] offers a margin feature that allows their users to see the top items in their movie queue. And, to give users that extra umph of interface goodness, you can reorder the queue with drag-and-drop. What Netflix figured out was that nobody else would figure it out unless they included instructions. So, that's exactly what they do. In a very concise box at the bottom of the list, they include a Helpful Tip that visually demonstrates the drag-and-drop capability." http://tinyurl.com/h38kx

Laura ___________________________________________ Laura L. Carlson Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009 http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdesign/