So, as I was pondering what improvements MS coul

jrenner · 03-10-2003, 09:56 AM

So, as I was pondering what improvements MS could make to the tablet experience, I realized that Journal was not completely ink-enabled. There are still several textboxes that do not support ink including Search and Save (~10 dialog boxes in total).

You'd think that an application that does not require the Input Panel would have been a design goal.

Any thoughts?

wpmann · 03-11-2003, 01:15 AM

Having those boxes ink-enabled would make sense, as long as they're still keyboard (or Input Panel)-enabled. I wouldn't want to have to fool around with handwriting in areas like Search and Save that require high accuracy of text entry.

On a tangent to this, I would have liked to see another dialog box in Journal. This would allow you to enter a list of categories (Personal, Project X, etc.). This list would then be available as a pull-down list when you're saving a note. Finally, the Search dialog box would need to allow you to specify a category of note to search in. For the category entry dialog box, ink-enabled and Input Panel enabled input would be necessary so you could enter category names with precision.

Bill

Big Lar · 03-11-2003, 01:54 AM

Bill,

I accomplish this "note categorization" with folders TODAY. I simply store my notes in separate folders by category. I can then choose to search only one folder when I'm looking for notes that are of that "type". The only downside to this is that I can't have a note in multiple categories. Perhaps One-Note will address this.

I hope this helps.

As for ink-enabling those controls, I think these controls would be prime candidates for the new PenInputPanel object in the TabletPC SDK version 1.5. This allows you to create a "Pop-Up" pen input panel for entering ink into non-ink enabled fields. Or, ink into ink fields that are physically too small to ink into. That is the real problem with developing ink-enabled dialogs. Screen space. The size of text box you need to make to allow for comfortable ink entry vs text entry is quite different. The PenInputPanel mitigates this by popping up a large input area and allowing you to ink into it. I don't think the Input Panel is all that bad a thing. Especially in areas where accuracy and editing support is required.

--Lar

jrenner · 03-11-2003, 02:54 AM

That's exactly what I was envisioning. An ink field that would pop-up near the actual textbox.

wpmann · 03-11-2003, 02:02 PM

quote:Originally posted by Big Lar

Bill,

I accomplish this "note categorization" with folders TODAY.

Lar,

That is a good option, and I have tried that approach for some things. It would be more user-friendly though to have the ability to categorize the way I described. OneNote's tabbed pages bring us closer, but if that's all there is, OneNote is working just like the separate folders approach you describe, and has the same limitations.

I can't wait to get my hands on Beta 2!

Bill