Table Filter
From Interaction-Patterns.org
Contents |
[edit] Table Filter
[edit] Quick Summary
Users want to control which subset of the total information they want to see in tables.
[edit] Visual Examples
File:Table-filter-example.png from welie.com
[edit] Examples found on the World Wide Web
- hotmail.com, unfortunately subscrition needed.
- gmail.com, unfortunately subscrition needed.
[edit] Use When
You are designing a Web-based Application or any other site where a lot of data is presented in a table. The amount of information-items is high and users need to filter out certain items. for example, belonging to a certain category or which certain attributes.
[edit] Rationale
Filtering allows users to quickly reduce the amount of items shown and help them to adjust their information to the task. For expert users, multi-dimensional filtering on all columns can be a very powerful feature that can replace reporting functionality or the Advanced Search functionality.
[edit] Possible Solution
There are two ways that a subset can be selected, either using one combo box based on one dimension or using combo boxes for every column in the table (multi-dimensional filter). When there are only a few meaningful subsets use a combo box. When users require very flexible filtering, for example in a issue tracking system, provide combo boxes in every column so that complex filters can be made.
After the selection by the user, the table is automatically redrawn showing only the elements of the subset. When users often create the same complex filter (e.g. all open issues assigned to me with high priority), provide functionality to store filters.
[edit] Technical Instructions and/or Source Code
Yet to be done.
[edit] Source
