[whatwg] Datepicker design (semi-off-topic)

[Matthew Raymond]

Matthew Thomas wrote:
> So if, for example, your OS was set to DD/MM/YYYY date format, a 
> datepicker might appear like this:
> 
>                      [11/07/2004]H
> 
> This is what a datepicker looks like in all toolkits I know of. ("H" 
> represents a pair of increment+decrement buttons.)
[Snip!]
> Single-clicking on a segment of the field would select that segment. 
> Double-clicking on it, or clicking-and-holding on it, could open a menu:
>                              ____
>                             | ^  |
>                             |1999|
>                             |2000|
>                             |2001|
>                             |2002|
>                             |2003|
>                       [11/07*2004*H
>                             |2005|
>                             |2006|
>                             |2007|
>                             |2008|
>                             |2009|
>                             | v  |
>                              """"

    I like all of this so far. It's similar to what I was thinking myself.

> As I said, for year and month this menu would be one-
> -dimensional, but for day it would be two-dimensional.
>      ____________________
>     |Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su|
>     |          1  2  3  4|
>     | 5  6  7  8  9 10*11*07/2004]H
>     |12 13 14 15 16 17 18|
>     |19 20 21 22 23 24 25|
>     |26 27 28 29 30 31   |
>      """"""""""""""""""""
> 
> Now here's the part that would be more efficient than a full-blown 
> calendar. If you wanted to, for example, find "the Tuesday just over 
> eight weeks from today", you could just drag the menu rightward to 
> Tuesday and downward eight rows, and the menu would contract and expand 
> to follow you. (This is similar to the "Insert Table" toolbar menubutton 
> in Microsoft Word, which you can drag to specify the number of rows * 
> columns in the table.)
>            ____________________
>           |We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu|
>           | 7  8  9 10 11 12 13|4]H
>           |14 15 16 17 18 19 20|
>           |21 22 23 24 25 26 27|
>           |28 29 30 31  1  2  3|
>           | 4  5  6  7  8  9 10|
>           |11 12 13 14 15 16 17|
>           |18 19 20 21 22 23 24|
>           |25 26 27 28 29 30 31|
>           | 1  2  3  4  5  6 *7*
>            """"""""""""""""""""
> That would be much quicker than flipping back and forth through months 
> in a fixed calendar control.

    In this case, I think I'd prefer the same control style as the month 
and year. If the user wants to pick an address based on a specific week 
and day of the week, they can simply click on a calendar icon next to 
the spinner that would bring up a multi-month calendar:

=== Before Click ===

[11/07/2004]HC

=== After Click ===
               ____________________
[11/07/2004]H|         ^          |
              |      June 2004     |
              |Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa|
              |       1  2  3  4  5|
              | 6  7  8  9 10 11 12|
              |13 14 15 16 17 18 19|
              |20 21 22 23 24 25 26|
              |27 28 29 30         |
              |                    |
              |      July 2004     |
              |Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa|
              |             1  2  3|
              | 4  5  6  7  8  9 10|
              *11*12 13 14 15 16 17|
              |18 19 20 21 22 23 24|
              |25 26 27 28 29 30 31|
              |                    |
              |     August 2004    |
              |Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa|
              | 1  2  3  4  5  6  7|
              | 8  9 10 11 12 13 14|
              |15 16 17 18 19 20 21|
              |22 23 24 25 26 27 28|
              |29 30 31            |
              |         v          |
               """"""""""""""""""""

    This give the user feedback with regards to both the week and the 
month while at the same time they don't get exposed to UI they may not 
understand.