New Invoice Dialog Box

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

Geert Janssens <janssens-geert at telenet.be> writes:

> I certainly agree on the concept: protect the invoice metadata while entering 
> the invoice content.
>
> I do believe on the other hand this can also be achieved within one single 
> window:
> * New invoice could immediately open the invoice, with the metadata fields 
> enabled for input.
> * Add a "Done" or "Proceed" or whatever button to the metadata fields.
> * Once clicked, disable the metadata fields (with visual feedback) and shift 
> focus to the ledger to enter invoice content.
> * Keep the "Edit Invoice" button to allow changing the metadata later on.
> * When clicked, re-enable the metadata fields (also with visual feedback) and 
> lock the ledger, until done is clicked again.

I honestly think this would be more confusing to the average user than
the current interface design.  If you still need to have an 'edit'
button then what have you saved?  If all it does is change which section
of the invoice window is editable, the next question would be "why not
make it all editable all the time"?

Also, what does the HIG say about this?  If you have required
information necessary before you can effectively enter data then I think
the HIG does require it to be on separate pages, so you cannot get to
stage 2 before you finish stage 1.  You NEED to select the customer for
the invoice before you can create the register because you need to know
what default currency to use.

> With visual feedback I imagine changing the background color of either the 
> fields or the complete metadata block.

EWWWWW!!!   As a colorblind person I object to using color to signal
information.  There are too many people who cannot differentiate colors,
and any colors you chose would potentially conflict with someone's ideal
theme colors.

> The above is only a rough sketch of the idea. It obviously still needs 
> refining. And I'm aware it requires several often user-invisible changes to 
> the widgets used on the invoice window.
>
> This approach essentially integrates the dialog box into the invoice window.
>
> Why would I want this ?
> Mainly because my usage of GnuCash often involves repetitive invoice creation 
> (enter x invoices in a row). Every popup window that can be avoided in such a 
> workflow increases the efficiency.
>
> I don't think the use case where invoices are only occasionally entered are 
> negatively affected with such a change.

I think the negative impact is more on confusing users and conflating
invoice contents and invoice metadata into a single screen.

Honestly, I think there are many other ways to make repetative invoice
creation easier.  I think the #1 task should be a "Duplicate Invoice"
feature that let's you take an existing invoice (posted or not) and
duplicate it.   When you click the "Duplicate" button it would pop up
the Edit Invoice window with the Customer/Job/Terms already filled in,
and then it would copy the invoice line items to the new invoice once
you accept that.

Obviously you could change the target customer in this process if you
want to duplicate an invoice to another customer.

I think adding this feature would go a LONG way towards easing your task
without making the entry more confusing.

Other things that would improve invoice entry:

* Real Autocompletion.  So it remembers other line-item entries from
  some other invoices and lets you autocomplete on them
* Employee hourly rate lookups for 'Hours' entries
* Actually implementing Invoice Templates / Scheduled Invoices.  Having
  Invoice duplication would be a good start to this.

I think all of these are features that would be extremely worthwhile,
useful, and fit in the current design without adding to the confusion of
data entry.

I'm glad you're interested in improving the business features..  It's
been in long need of some love.

> Geert

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available