Can the 'preferred' option for phones/emails etc be a checkbox

[petednz]

Just wondering if the preferred option for phones/emails/sms could be a checkbox so if we have a number of any one of these for someone and we want to reset which is the prefered one then we could just put the tick against the one we want, rather than having to copy the information from one to the other.

[Dave Greenberg]

This makes sense. We could potentially incorporate this change with a general overhaul of the layouts for Contact Edit and Contact View screens. We're thinking about replacing the current "location-based" structure:

Home -> Address, Phone, Email
Work -> Address, Phone, Email

... with the structure that seems to be more commonly used in address books etc:

Phone Numbers -> Mobile, Home, Work ...
Emails -> Home, Work
Addresses -> Home, Work, Other ...

Would be great to get some feedback on this proposed change!

[ctarascio]

Hi Dave,
   I like the idea you proposed. Seems cleaner and more straightforward (to me). "Like" information would be clustered together and if you added the option to tick a check box for the preferred address, phone or email, one could see at a glance the best way to reach the contact.
   As a sort of addendum to this: any thought to adding from-to dates for locations? It's not something I've had specific requests about but I know there are a lot of people who live half the time in one place and half in another. Like the "snow birds" 

Thanks,
Cynthia

[petednz]

Dave - yep totally support such moves. Recall something similar being floated around 1.9 time and had anticipated such changes may have been being looked at for 2.0

It doesn't make sense to have a 'mobile' phone as part of a 'location' and emails are almost as transient.

That said, contacts can have a work-mobile and a personal-mobile.

So that said, on the View Screen could we have something like the upper box (currently primary location) listing say on the left, phones, on the right, emails.

Then in the next section, on the left primary location, on the right, secondary location (hang on who suggested a secondary factor - well it would make sense to us so that in the one section we see, eg home on the left, and postal or work on the right)

But keen to hear some other options. (have pasted mock up - hope it works)

[ctarascio]

Well Dave, since you asked, here's my 200 cents 

Thanks for even considering this,
Cynthia

[petednz]

Hi Cynthia - glad we are on  same path with the phone/email - and agree about the 'preferred' checkbox being alongside each option (you are mocking up the Edit screen and mine was the View).

We should probably note the 'On Hold' checkbox should also be alongside the Email addresses.

And with both Phones and Email there should be options for "+ Other Phone" and a dropdown menu?

Should we also have the Open ID and IM options sitting up by the Phone/email since they are also not bricks and mortar.

I like the idea of the 'Billing' checkbox next to the Address options - avoids yet another 'location'. Would it also follow that we would have the checkbox for Household in the same vicinity (and workplace when the Employer address becomes an option in the same way that Households is)?

Finally can you clarify what your 'From ..... To......' is aiming to achieve? Putting dates as to when the location is valid?

[Sarah]

I like the idea of the address, phone, email being on separate lines- with the opportunity to add additional address, phone, email under each during entry- and an expanded list of designations for the fields. And treating fields separate, so that emails, and phone numbers do not have to be tied to specific address locations.
So the entry would look like this, kind of a combination of current and proposed screens

Address 1                use as primary address x  use as household address x
Address type- home- office work
Address Field
Address Field 2
City, State Zipcode
Add Additional Address +(expands to display the same fields for Address 2)


Phone Number  1  use as primary address x
Phone Number Field
Drop down with phone type- Work, Home, Mobile, Fax
Add Additional Phone Number +(expands to display the same fields for Phone 2)

Email 1 use as primary email x
Email Field- x on hold x use for bulk mailings
Drop down with email type -work, home, school
Add Additional Email +(expands to display the same fields for Email  2)

Instant Messenger 1  use as primary messenger
Messenger field
Messenger service -  Aim, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, Skype
Add Additional Messenger +(expands to display the same fields for Messenger  2)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The display would look like this

Primary Address
Address Field
Address Field 2
City, State Zip
Primary Phone
Primary Email
Primary Messenger

Phones >>>  Phone 2 – type  , Phone 3 – type
 Emails>>>email2, email3
Addresses>>>   Address 2
      Address 2 type
      Address 2 City, State Zip
Messenger >>>> Messenger 2, Messenger 3
Open ID>>>> Open Id

Export would look like this (all on one line for each record)
Primary Address   Primary City  Primary State     Primary Zip Primary Phone
Primary Email Primary Messenger
Address 2    Address 2 City    Address 2State Address 2 Zip
Phone2  xxx-xxxx  phone2  type- home
  Email2 xxx@xxxx.com emailtype-home
Messenger 2, Open ID

[ctarascio]

Hi,
   Based on PeterD's comments, I did another mockup. What do folks think? Also, to answer PeterD's question about the from/to dates: these are used for people who live part of the year in one place and part in another. The "snow birds" as we call them here: people who spend the summer months up North and the winter months down in Florida.

Thanks,
Cynthia

[petednz]

Cynthia - you have captured that really well. I can't suggest any further improvements to the phone/email/sms section.

I expect there are technical issues why Billing has to remain as a real location rather than as a 'characteristic' of other locations, but certainly worth floating it I think.

"Snow birds" - lovely term. Wonder it the concept would also work for us when people head off for a long trip so we can denote that they are 'on the road' even if the 'to' date has to be left open.

[petednz]

Dave - just wondering if this conversation is likely to have any impact on 2.X  now that I see it clearly wasn't nailed in to 2.2?

[Dave Greenberg]

Peter - Current plan is to include an overhaul of the contact edit form in 2.3. I've added an entry to the 2.3 roadmap as a reminder to include it in the prioritization discussions.

http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRM/CiviCRM+v2.3

[petednz]

Thanks Dave

[xavier]

Hi,

Nice improvements indeed. Couple of comments:

1) don't use check boxes when you can select only one, the proper tool is radio button
2) instead of having the check box, I'd suggest to be able to have "priorities", and up-down buttons. The first phone is the prefered one, the second is the second prefered one...
3) display thing: don't display the address at the begining: offer "use the employer" address "use the household" +add another
4) when checking "use the" address, it should automatically populate it, and offer to update the employer or household from the individual address

X+