- Program Action collection - A program action collection is the last of three types of collections we identified in our use case survey of collections in current applications. Chandler will not have program action collections in their pure form, however we will include affordances of program action collections in our notions of named collections. Program action collections are essentially an artifact of the one-item: one-location mental model of file systems. They are most commonly used to automate moving items (ie. mailing list emails) out of the Inbox into an archive folder. Program action collections look a lot like rule-based collections. Program action collections are containers populated by program actions defined by user rules. The two seem essentially identical with the exception of a couple of layers of indirection on the part of program action collections. However those layers of indirection have important interaction design consequences that allow users to use program action collections in a very different way. Program action rules exist independent of collections and instead, program actions move items between collections and conversely, collections are simply containers that are populated by program actions. As a result, users can also populate program action collections via DnD? manipulations that contradict the program action rule. Essentially DnD? manipulations happen parallel to the program action rule populating the collection. The fallout is that items that are explicitly dragged into the collection are not labeled in the way they are in rule-based collections. In this way, program action collections are a hybrid of explicit and rule-based collections. Program action collections are most useful for "getting 90%" there with a simple rule and leaving 10% head room to fine-tune the collection with DnD?. Program action collections are generally large (more than 20). Users don't have a very good idea of what all the member items are. Program action collections don't usually have an explicit order or convey a coherent narrative. Users don't keep tight control over every item that goes in and out of program action collections, except for the few items they drag in or out. The most prevalent example of program action collections is the mailing list filter.
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