Improving Calendar Usability

1 Requirements

Usability of the current calendar needs to improved to make this important tool more easy to use.
 
Besides several additional features that have already been described in the Calendar category, the presentation of existing features and calendar informations needs to be improved:

1. All calendars overview: Instead of the current tab [1] "Manage" a new tab "Calendars" should be added to the Calendar page. In this tab you see all calendars (like now) but:

   1. calendars are listed according to their type (private, public, course, group) to identify them easier (you cannot sort by type at the moment)
   2. a filter is offered to reduce the list of shown calendars (deactivated by default)
   3. each calendar is offering all available functions NOT behind an Actions menu but plain (usually there is only the EDIT option)
   4. users can change directly to the calendar itself (details and assigned appointments) to add a new appointment or have a look for an assignment

2. 

   Specific calendar presentation: The current presentation of the calendar details is not satisfying. Instead of the calendar's title you see "Calendar Details" as headline. The "Calendar Name" is part of a list. This could be improved:

   1. Use the name of a calendar as a real title and present it like we are presenting object titles (why not putting the calendar icon in front?)
   2. Add calendar type and other information as description under the title. Don't forget to show the calendar colour (which is a detail, too!)
   3. If type is a private calendar, add the "owner" of the calendar (maybe it is someone else's calendar for which I have view permission)
   4. Show me with whom I share my personal calendars (at the moment I need to change to the Manage view to see this ...)
   5. Offer a link to edit calendar name and colour at this screen (no need to change to the Manage tab to do this)
   6. Offer a .ics file to subscribe to this calendar (see below)
   7. The appointments should not start with "Title" but with "Date" - similar to Sessions.
3. General revision of date and time presentation: Until 4.1 we are presenting appointments always with a Start date and Duration. This is not really usable. It would be better to present appointments always with date and time. Example:

   1. Instead of the current implementation "28. Feb 2011 12:00" and "2 Hour(s)" I would prefer "28. Feb 2011" and "12:00 - 14:00"
   2. If a date has "No Recurrence" the "Recurrences" column should stay empty to avoid visual noise.

4. Offer easy subscription of single calendars: Offer a possibility to create ics files for each calendar (private, public, course,...) like we offer specific RSS feeds for objects. It would make it easier to subscribe to a specific course calendar (and to handle this specific calendar in one's private calendar programme).

5. Allow to turn off calendars in groups / courses: For some courses and groups, calendars are very helpful. But in other ones there might be no need of them. Why presenting them in the right column when you do not need them? A course / group setting for activating the calendar would be the solution: if the calendar is deactivated, you do not see it in the right column any more - not even a "Not visible for course member info" (same please for News).

6. Calendar presentation in courses and groups: It is not easy to identify course and group events at first sight. You always need to open the calendar and click on an event to check if it is a group / course event or another event of one of your multiple calendars. This is not good user experience... Suggestion:

   1. Calendars in courses and groups should offer a clear distinction between events of this course / group and all other events by offering two views:
      • Show only course/group events
      • Show all events
   2. Additionally, a new presentation for events should be introduced: a list of events. I even would recommend to use this list as default view in the left column.

2 Status

3 Additional Information

4 Discussion

JF 14.3.2011: We will postpone the discussion, since our ressources will not allow to tackle this for 4.2.

JF 2 Apr 2012: We highly appreciate these improvements. Related to E.: We would like to introduce a "feature configuration" settings screen or section on an existing settings screen that groups "Activate Calendar", "Activate News" and similar features.

5 Implementation