Competetive Analysis - List Reorderer
From a friend of Fluid that has done testing in this area
- Testing showed that users preferred drag and drop for short lists and numbered lists for really long lists (i.e. 100 items).
Netflix
fluid:Quick movie of reordering in netflix (doesn't start for 10 seconds or so)
Pros:
- Row is highlighted on rollover as a clue that the user can do something with the row
- The dotted outline on rows makes it easy to see the whole row moving as you drag it.
- Easy way to jump to the top with the arrow keys. This is good for this context where they assume you want to move things up in your list.
- Graceful degredation in allowing users to use numbers to change order.
- Numbers are also an additional feedback about the order and an indication that you can change the order.
Cons:
- Discovery is weak.
Dragging "seen this?"
fluid:Facebook reordering movie...
Pros:
- Drag to reorder message at top is helpful for discovery.
- Apps are links. User goes to app on mouse click release. On down click user can begin dragging item.
Cons:
- No drop target indication.
- Text message requires users to read it to notice they can drag to reorder.
ICal
fluid:Movie - Reordering calendars in Ical fluid:Movie - Reordering calendars in Ical
Pros:
- Nice drop target using the black line that goes all the way across. It's very clear where the item will be dropped.
- Smooth dragging and dropping
Cons:
- No discoverability as far as I can see
Itunes
fluid:Movie - reordering songs in itunes
Pros:
- Nice avatar when dragged. It's basically a very faint version of the row.
- Smooth dragging interaction
Cons:
- No drop target indication
- No assistance with discovery. Although dragging and dropping is easier