Ulrik,
In a previous project I worked on, very subtle cell background coloring was
used to indicate editability vs. non-editability.  Non-editable cells were
normal white background and editable cells were a pale yellow.  This may not
look completely elegant based on the contiguity of the editable
cells/rows/columns, but in our case it worked.   Of course there is
consideration for color-blindness that you need to include when choosing a
color.  I don't believe we used any hover/mouse-over indication on these
cells.  But when the editable cells was clicked, the control appeared.  This
did save initial page load time and reduced visual clutter.

Regards,
Marcy


> Date:    Sun, 10 Jun 2007 12:55:02 +0400
> From:    Ulrik Gade <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Visual cues for in-place editing?
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm involved in a redesign for a business web app. We'd like to reduce the
> clutter of controls in columnar displays of numbers by only displaying the
> input control during actual editing of a data item, i.e. grid style
> in-place
> editing though these are not strictly grids.
>
> However, not all numbers may be edited at all times so we need a graphic
> technique to give users visual cues about which numbers s/he may/not edit
> at
> any one time. Do you have any suggestions for good solutions to this?
> (Please provide screen shots as well as URLs as some sites are
> unfortunately
> censored in this country).
>
> I'm also interested in suggestions for interactive (hover) effects to
> enhance the perception of editing affordance. But these are the main
> concern
> for this request.
>
> Thanks for any replies. I'll summarize to the list if you prefer to
> respond
> to privately.
>
>
> /Ulrik
>
> --
> Ulrik H. Gade
> Usability Designer
> c/o Marcura FZE
> PO Box 54614
> Office no. 204, West Wing 3
> Dubai Airport Free Zone
> Dubai, United Arab Emirates
> Home: +971 (0)4 2888 147
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>
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