Can I Merge a Batch List-Item Selector with a Comparison List Selector?
I'm working on a complex UX that requires 2 discreet tasks to be accomplished on a list of items:
- Batch-Selection *of any items (for
Archiving
) - Selection of only 2 similar items (for
Comparison
)
My current solution has these 2 features discreetly separated:
The reason they were originally separated was that Comparing
has some rules ( you can only compare 2 exact same URLs ) Therefore not all the items are selectable in the list, only valid comparable ones are: View screencast.
It would be ideal to unify both into 1 selection system, but my fear is that it would be even more confusing due to the comparison rules. Can this be elegantly done?
One possible solution:
1 - allow for any multiple items to be selected.
2 - if 2
are selected, then show both Comparison
(if applicable) + Archive
options
3 - if 3
or more, then only show Archive
(option 1) downsides:
1- there are 2 Selector Columns.
(option 2) downsides:
1- The Comparison
is not a feature clearly evident up-front in the UI until you select.
2- Rules are not evident until post-interaction, so if a user selects 2 random URLs, we would have to explain ( via alerts ) why you can't compare 2 non-identical URLs. ( which in option-1 is solved simply by disabling non-comparable URLs )