[Koha-devel] form buttons Vs simple links

[MJ Ray]

Pierrick LE GALL <pierrick at koha-fr.org>
> I've started to work on Koha HEAD templates and my first remark is
> about links. Why links are replaced by form buttons? This construction
> is complicated and against semantic.

I agree.

Owen Leonard <oleonard at athenscounty.lib.oh.us> wrote:
> Using javascript by itself isn't a safe way to prevent unwanted destructive
> consequences:
> http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/05/google_web_acce_1.html
> 
> The only way to combine a link with a delete action safely would be to make
> an intermediary page with a confirm button.

Thanks for sharing that link about Google. I'll add it to my page
of Google Bugs at http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/google

Arguably, irreversible actions should have a confirmation page
to avoid the problem of wild-clicking and then hitting the
wrong dialogue box button key. So, ultimately, it would meet
your recommendation to use a POST for the destructive part.
(Arguably, destruction should be an HTTP DELETE but damned
if I know how to make today's browser send that.)

Richard Anderson <richard at katipo.co.nz>
> > Joshua Ferraro <jmf at liblime.com> wrote:
> >> In my opinion, for action links, we could have icons. [...]
> >> The only problem with icons is that they often include text which must
> >> be translated. If you can find icons that won't include text to 
> >> include I'm all for it.
> > 
> > Icons without text? That's what we work with everyday (or do I miss
> > something?). See some beautiful samples in Tango project gallery page
> > [1] or in Jakub Steiner presentation page [2].
> 
> I think we should really avoid using images in the Koha templates as 
> much as possible. While icons may be individually small in size, they 
> will make a difference to page loading times for libraries with slow 
> internet connection speeds e.g., rural libraries connected via dial-up 
> modems.

If the icons were both image and text on a standard base
button background image(s), it could:
1. make templates easy to translate because there is nothing
to translate in the images;
2. make templates easier to re-skin, simply by replacing the
background image and stylesheet, without messing up the
translations;
3. maximise the space users can click on, which is good for
Fitts's Law: The time to acquire a target is a function of the
distance to and size of the target.

Hope that helps,
-- 
MJ Ray - personal email, see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Work: http://www.ttllp.co.uk/  irc.oftc.net/slef  Jabber/SIP ask