Assume an application that shows a number of lists, each containing zero or more items. An item consists of exactly 2 values.
I wonder whether the application should provide a modal for adding an item or rather add a blank one, then let the user fill it in.
I have some pros & cons for both variants:
Modal
Pro
The user gets focused on the task he just decided to do. There is no necessity of figuring out where exactly something happened on the screen.
One can include a brief explanation of how to actually complete the task without breaking the rest of the UI.
One can ad big, clearly visible UI elements to interact with the data that should be entered (e.g save, cancel), thus, even users with low experience in using computer applications should be able to figure out how to save this item they just wanted to add
Contra
- It may be cumbesome to implement all these modals instead of a blank item
- Continuous popping up of modal windows may be annoying to some users
Blank Item
Pro
This might be the more convenient way to accomplish this, at least from the developers point of view.
It fits nicely in the workflow of the application, disrupting the user as little as possible
Contra
Basically the 'pro' Side on modals.
How should I do this? are their other points to add to the comparison above?