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I'm trying to research a way to support this, and the requirement is that there should be a 'quick reference' area for users to save/store particular rows from a search results page.

It's almost like a list builder, except:

  1. The row will persist in the search results even after it has been saved (although its status will update)
  2. I don't have enough space to do a shuttle type interaction where it moves left to right, and this wouldn't really make sense anyways.
  3. The saved results must display in a static and persistent area - I can't put them in a tab, etc.

Does anyone know of examples of this or have any patterns? I'm not even sure I have the name of this right, which might be why I can't find any.

I considered just having a way to make a row 'sticky' but this gets weird as soon as the performs another search, because the previous saved search results would have to hang around in the same area with new and difference search results.

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    Do you have a specific example of where it is to be used? My instinct draws me to "add to list" or "add to basket" type interactions, but you seem to have ruled these out.
    – Brendon
    Jul 12, 2013 at 21:08
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    Sticky notes are indeed not quite it. They are used more on blogs to keep a post on the front page. The concept of "pinning" (tool)windows to the sides of an IDE comes to mind? The windows are out of sight when not applicable to the current context, but are pinned to the side (or bottom) when applicable and thus readily available. The pinning concept also supports the notion of "permanently in view" (expanded) versus "placeholder in view" (collapsed) and the pinned item expanding on hover. Jul 13, 2013 at 10:40
  • I like where @MarjanVenema is going. How about a 'tab' on the top or side with your saved values? Make it auto hide when not active but show a count of how many saved values exist.
    – ethrbunny
    Jul 18, 2013 at 12:10
  • Something like this tympanus.net/jstickynote would work for the OP (with heavy customization). Here is the basic idea: Double click / interact with your search result, convert it to a sticky - store it away from the search display area. I will post a detailed answer later
    – Rayraegah
    Jul 19, 2013 at 15:51
  • The first thing I thought of was the Safari "Reading List" feature, where you can quickly add links, by Shift+Clicking them, to a temporary list/queue in the sidebar. You can quickly build a list of important pages to you without disrupting whatever's going on in the main area of the application.
    – Kip
    Jul 19, 2013 at 23:25

2 Answers 2

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KAYAK travel search uses the concept of pinning a flight. A pinned flight appears in a special "My Pinned Flights" list above the normal search results any time it matches the search parameters. Of course, the pinned flights continues to update (e.g., its price increases/decreases as results refresh).

pinned flights

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What you're describing sounds something like this.

Select multiple from a long list

That example came from Multiple Selection from Large List.

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