Displaying calendar information in a horizontal bar

A computer program product for improving the usability of a calendar application, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code comprising the programming instructions for:

• retrieving calendar information from three or more of the following systems:
• electronic mail, social networking, instant messaging, a wiki, a project management system and a customer relationship management system, wherein said calendar information comprises meetings, appointments, vacations and tasks;
• evaluating said retrieved calendar information with respect to a set of presentation rules, wherein said set of presentation rules determines how said calendar information is to be displayed on a user interface of a client device;
• presenting said retrieved calendar information in a horizontal bar in said calendar application over a duration of time in relation to said set of presentation rules, wherein said horizontal bar is limited to two rows on said user interface of said client device, wherein said presented calendar information comprises calendar information for a plurality of different users, wherein said horizontal bar displays a total availability of users to attend a meeting in response to a user selecting said meeting displayed in said horizontal bar;
• presenting a zoom icon on said user interface of said client device allowing said user to zoom into a period of time of day depicted in said horizontal bar;
• detecting a current time;
• automatically scrolling to said current time in said horizontal bar such that items in said horizontal bar that occur prior to said current time are less visible than items in said horizontal bar that occur after said current time;
• displaying an indication on said user interface of said client device when a meeting is to occur within a designated amount of time from said detected current time thereby drawing a user's attention to said meeting, wherein said indication comprises a countdown to a start of said meeting;
• tracking a pattern of activity from said user completing items of said retrieved calendar information, wherein said items comprise scheduled meetings, appointments, tasks and vacations;
• and
• generating a reward based on said tracked pattern of activity, wherein said reward comprises badges.

A system, comprising:

• a memory unit for storing a computer program for improving the usability of a calendar application;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory unit, wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions of the computer program comprising:
• retrieving calendar information from three or more of the following systems:
• electronic mail, social networking, instant messaging, a wiki, a project management system and a customer relationship management system, wherein said calendar information comprises meetings, appointments, vacations and tasks;
• evaluating said retrieved calendar information with respect to a set of presentation rules, wherein said set of presentation rules determines how said calendar information is to be displayed on a user interface of a client device;
• presenting said retrieved calendar information in a horizontal bar in said calendar application over a duration of time in relation to said set of presentation rules, wherein said horizontal bar is limited to two rows on said user interface of said client device, wherein said presented calendar information comprises calendar information for a plurality of different users, wherein said horizontal bar displays a total availability of users to attend a meeting in response to a user selecting said meeting displayed in said horizontal bar;
• presenting a zoom icon on said user interface of said client device allowing said user to zoom into a period of time of day depicted in said horizontal bar;
• detecting a current time;
• automatically scrolling to said current time in said horizontal bar such that items in said horizontal bar that occur prior to said current time are less visible than items in said horizontal bar that occur after said current time;
• displaying an indication on said user interface of said client device when a meeting is to occur within a designated amount of time from said detected current time thereby drawing a user's attention to said meeting, wherein said indication comprises a countdown to a start of said meeting;
• tracking a pattern of activity from said user completing items of said retrieved calendar information, wherein said items comprise scheduled meetings, appointments, tasks and vacations;
• and
• generating a reward based on said tracked pattern of activity, wherein said reward comprises badges.