Usability issue on copy record screen the boxes for call number affixes and copy# are too small

[Janet Schrader]

This is a split off from bug 1782652.
On the copy record screen the boxes for prefix and suffix are too small. With a square monitor only the first letter of the prefix or suffix displays. This is problematic for libraries with many prefixes that start with J such as JJ, JE, J ER, J FIC, J B, etc.
It's less obvious how the prefix/suffix windows could be made wider as there's little room on that display unless the 'owning library' and 'volumes' boxes were put on a separate line.
It would be nice to be able to customize the defaults for what boxes show on that line for libraries that do not use copy numbers, prefixes, or suffixes.

Chrome browser
Web version 3.0.9

[Remington Steed (rjs7)]

Here's a screenshot from Jeanette Lundgren.

[Jason Stephenson (jstephenson)]

Looking at this today, all of the width is taken up by the current controls. Simply making the prefix and suffix controls wider causes the view to wrap and makes the interface less usable, not more usable. (See screenshot.)

It seems to me that that the template and app controller will both need considerable modifications to make this change workable.

[Janet Schrader (jschrader)]

Jason,
The boxes to increase the number of call numbers and number of items do not need to be that big, these boxes have room for at least a 1,000 digit number, way more than enough to add even 100 items at a time. And then there's the item# box. Are other networks adding copy numbers, i.e. c.1, c.2, etc.? We gave up using copy numbers when items have specific barcodes for identification. Even if networks do use it, it's bigger than needed. Is it possible to reduce the size of these three boxes to give room to the prefix/suffix boxes?

[Jason Stephenson (jstephenson)]

Bootstrap (the CSS kit that is used in the staff client) is limited in what it can do to size the boxes. What you see in the screen shot is what happens when I ask it to make them the same size as the other boxes. By the way, that is only a size increase of 1 step, i.e. from 1 to 2. We don't actually have the ability to set the sizes to percentages or to fixed pixel widths with the tools that we're using. That is, unless we want to break the tools that we're using.

For all of the technical mumbo jumbo see https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.0/layout/grid/#grid-options

As for reducing the sizes of the other boxes, what works at CW MARS may not work for everyone else, so I hesitate to make anything else smaller. I want to point out that the subject of this bug mentions the copy# field as being too small. That may have changed as it has a higher size than the other boxes.

Also, given the way the sizing works, reducing the size of the copy# box would only allow us to increase the size of either the prefix or suffix box, but not both.

In order to fix this, I believe we're going to have to split this into two rows: one for the call number and one for the barcode. It would look something like my screenshot, except with the headers for the copy/item fields directly above the fields. Currently, it appears to be implemented as 1 row, though it will wrap if we specify the sizes as being too large for 1 row, as seen in my screen shot.

I'll look into splitting this up into two rows and see what we get. This may not be acceptable, either since it will use more vertical screen real estate.

[Janet Schrader (jschrader)]

Jason, any further progress on this? I have a valid complete from one library that the size of the box is a showstopper for moving to the web client cataloging. Since the xul client will no longer be an option next year this is a real problem for them.
Janet

[Janet Schrader (jschrader)]

Guess no one liked this bug but me. I can confirm that this is still true on https://bugsquash.mobiusconsortium.org/eg/staff/

The prefix box on the holdings edit screen still shows only the first 1-2 characters of the prefix.