I have software that I am working on, in which a user has to scan a complete palette of several hardware items to make inventories (think of a wooden pallet in a warehouse loaded with stacks of computer towers of various form factors , for example, with 50 towers per pallet) using a hand-held barcode scanner (possibly wireless), a barcode label represents the unique instance of the element on which the label was placed.
The idea is that the person, using a barcode scanner connected to a laptop with my software open, can scan each element of the palette at their own pace without having to move the laptop (which would be impractical). This means that the user must physically move to perform the task and may not be able to see the screen immediately or closely when moving, scanning elements.
So far I have planned a notification system that would notify the user through auditory signals according to the state of the scanned item, since it is safe to assume that they are not looking at the screen when scanning an item. A visual notification of classes is, of course, important if they scan an item and can see the screen, however, and that's where I'm having some problems.
The following demo is what would be shown for each notification that would appear for about 1-2 seconds before returning to the default view of the software information, which is effectively the list of all items in the palette (read from a csv file). generated by the management System), categorized and ordered with a summary count of scanned items, by brand and model. However, this default view is too dense to view at a distance, so I have difficulty deciding:
- I must show only one notification at a time, fullscreen? If so, how should I handle scans of the items that occur before the notifications of the previous items disappear, keeping in mind that I would like the most recent notification displayed on the screen to always be relative to the The user's most recent scan, so that the information displayed is always accurate if all the user does is look at the screen when scanning an item.
- Alternatively, you could allow 2, maybe 3 notifications at a time on the screen (each occupies half or a third of it), provided that everything can be read at a distance of ~ 5 to 7 feet away, but how do I handle new notifications in this case, if the previous ones are still on the screen ? Scroll them up on the screen (so they are in the oldest / oldest-order below), prematurely delete the oldest notification or let the notifications run out normally and always occupy the "slots" as they become available.
- Allow the notification window (containing notifications) to be displayed manually / so that notifications or the window that contains them never disappear, so that notifications can be moved (for example) if the user hears a sound / auditory warning notification, but that would mean a lot of movement … I'm not sure about this.
The states that I am following are the scans themselves, of the following elements:
– Good (the object exists in the list and it has been scanned just once).
– Orphan (the object does not exist in the list and it has been scanned just once).
– Double (the object exists in the list and it has been scanned more than once).
– Duplicate orphan (the object does not exist in the list and it has been scanned more than once).
I can not trace the lack of barcode label, since that label is what is needed to track the status in this part of the process, which is essentially the validation of the information provided in the previous step; manual input of hardware data into the system, as well as the placement of adhesive labels of bar codes. Note that I do not have direct access to the database, so I have to list "Orphan" for the orphaned elements instead of showing the actual palette to which the scanned item belongs.
Download the bmml font – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
Thank you very much in advance for your help and apologies for the extension of this publication! Feel free to offer advice, alternative models or ideas, or comment on my proposed model that represents a single scan notification as well, since I would like to offer all the information I can with the little space I have (since it must be visible and understandable) at a glance from a distance).
