Usability issues - File management system
Most logical, consistent ordering of columns
How can we be consistent with other file management systems?
Linux file management system has the order: name, size, (type, which won't exist in this case) and modified. So I think we should follow this pattern and have name, size an modified in this order. So the question is where to put the "rename". There are two possibilities:
- To put it near name because it has name connotations.
- To put it at the end because the first three are informative fields and the last one is two change a parameter of the file.
In general, it is more common the second one. It must also be considered that action is not only rename but also list, unzip, etc.
Would users prefer to have the icons for rename, delete, unzip, list, restore or words?
Users prefer generally icons rather than names. Moreover, you can always put the mouse over the icon and you can read the description. In this case it will not confuse the user because there would be few icons in the page and it would be used icons that have already been used in other places at Moodle (specially when selecting the "Turn editing on mode").
This would be the icons that I find more usable and that are already used at Moodle:
Rename (used already at Moodle)
Delete (used already at Moodle)
List (used already at Moodle but to hide, perhaps this can cause confusion...)
Restore (used already at Moodle)
Unzip (my proposal) although at Moodle this icon is used
Zip icon as it can bee seen here
So it must be considered that if my proposal is used it should be changed of several pages in order to be consistent.
Ability to click on the column headings to sort the files username, file size, and modified date
This is a functionality that should be added to all tables but the backup table shown above, which have no sense ordering it in another way which is not the date of the backup.
