User Interface. Multiple select with priority.

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+1 Q:

User Interface. Multiple select with priority.

I'm designing user interface and want to ask your advises how to make it more user-friendly. Please tell any suggestions and if you have ever seen implementation of something familiar please share the link.

University. There are 40+ specialities grouped into 5 faculties. User choose several he is interested in and than orders them by priority.

For example I am interested in "programming microcontrollers", "system analysis" and "experimental physic". I must find them quickly in "programming faculty", select them and then order - what I prefer most and what I prefer less then others I select.

Any ideas welcome :)

+1 A:

Checkboxes and radio buttons would be appropriate for this, for both websites and desktop applications.

In my case I'd use the faculty names as headers and then add the according specialities below them, prefixed by checkboxes and radio button next to each speciality, allowing the user to set the priority.

A picture is worth a thousand words: http://i45.tinypic.com/2ex6jy0.png

EarthMind 2010-05-22 11:52:33

Yes, but how would you prioritize selections? Checkbox have two states but several states are required. If I uses checkboxes I tell: "I am interested in A as well as in B as well as in C". But somehow I should tell: "I am interesetd in A, then in B, and least of all in C"

Andrew Florko 2010-05-22 11:55:00

I've edited my post. I'm currently also creating an image to explain it visually.

EarthMind 2010-05-22 11:56:24

Thank you for efforts. I'll wait :)

Andrew Florko 2010-05-22 12:03:34

I've added it to my post. Just in case you have trouble understanding it: the black squares represent the checkboxes and the orange circles the radio buttons.

EarthMind 2010-05-22 12:07:50

Andrew Florko 2010-05-22 12:11:52

That's even better! You could also set a maximum number of votes globally if that's necessary.

EarthMind 2010-05-22 12:14:15

or may be I should left checkboxes. When I select speciality - speciality selected appears in sortable summary area. And sorting is availabe in summary, no voting required?

Andrew Florko 2010-05-22 14:31:14

That makes it easier yes. But one remark I'd like to make: make sure the summary area stays within the user's screen, this is applicable to scrollable areas. This way the user doesn't need to scroll up/down to check the summary area.

EarthMind 2010-05-22 19:39:06

Finally, I implemented interface with checkboxes. When user selects checkbox, dropdownlist with priorities appears (1..8). Default priority is the minimum that is in the gap between priorities selected earlier. For example if you select 3 specialities priorities would be 1,2,3. Then you change 3 -> 5 and select one more speciality. This speciality appears with priority 3. When speciality is deselected (user changed his mind and not interested in speciality) - dropdownlist dissapears. Nevertheless, thank you for conversation :).

Andrew Florko 2010-05-22 22:53:34

Jørn E. Angeltveit 2010-05-24 00:02:25

ansaurus

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User Interface. Multiple select with priority.

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