On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 10:03 PM, Chris Cormack <chris@bigballofwax.co.nz> wrote:
On 25 October 2012 14:55, Srikanth Dhondi <srikanth@catalyst.net.nz> wrote:
In my opinion, layout similar to the one http://kea.massey.ac.nz/search/X, is better.
I'm going to disagree and say that site is horrid :)
Actually I think that layout isn't much different from the way Koha is now, other than the fact that is shows "more options" by default. The reason Koha doesn't show more options by default is that it was thought it would be better not to make the advanced search page *too* advanced. The expandedSearchOption system preference can be switched if one disagrees. I too think the advanced search page could be improved, but I think we need to define (and agree on) some goals. - improved accessibility - improved usability (layout? labeling? help?) - improved appearance (style) - improved functionality The first three are relatively easy in that they don't require programming. The last one seems to be the one people are responding to but is also the most difficult to accomplish.
For example, the default boolean operator is AND which is not obvious to even normal user.
I would contend that the "normal" user has no idea what a default boolean operator is. I think we should probably focus on making both the "fewer" and "more" views look and work better without worrying about whether "fewer" should have more and vice versa. -- Owen -- Web Developer Athens County Public Libraries http://www.myacpl.org