Re: [Bodington-developers] RFC: minor change to MCQ deadline parsing

[Matthew B. <mat...@ou...>]

Peter Crowther wrote:
>> From: Matthew Buckett
>> If the date field contains anything and it can't be parsed 
>> into a date 
>> shouldn't it warn the user and fail to save the form? Users 
>> are rather 
>> good at not reading error messages correctly or at all.
> 
> Well, here we have two models.  Both assume your comments about users.
> 
> First model:
> - User makes changes to some fields.
> - User saves changes; no changes are saved due to an error with a date.
> - User ignores error message and walks away thinking 'job done'.
> 
> Second model:
> - User makes changes to some fields.
> - User saves changes; as many changes as possible are saved due to an
> error with a date.
> - User ignores warning message and walks away thinking 'job done'.
> 
> Which do we prefer?

The first as you say "Save Failed" rather than saing "Save OK, apart 
from the date because you can't enter it in a suitable format".

This is how most other websites work. If I order something from Amazon 
and enter a bad credit card number they don't say "Order Accepted, but 
we won't post out your order until you enter a valid credit card", they 
say "Error, please enter a valid card number".

The first model reduces the risk of confusion I believe.

-- 
  -- Matthew Buckett, VLE Developer
  -- Learning Technologies Group, Oxford University Computing Services
  -- Tel: +44 (0)1865 283660 http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/