Tony Septav
iggy at nanaimo.ark.com
Mon Aug 29 08:52:37 CDT 2011
Hey William Very good point. I am the same I always use informative captions on buttons not images. I also use text captions next to applicable fields (Date dd-mmm-yyyy eg. 02-Apr-2011) which is sometimes hard because space is a factor. I never tell a client "Not to do that" or "You can't do that", that is part of the designers job to solve those problems (if possible). For data entry forms I always tell the client/user "Look I designed the form from the information you gave me, I have tested the logic and data integrity, but I am not doing the data entry, if the form does not reflect how you work/intuitive please let me know and it will be fixed. And if you run into a problem DO NOT WORK AROUND IT, let me know. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of William Benson (VBACreations.Com) Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 6:18 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] User Interface I think you all write applications for many more users than I do. I have not written anything for more than about 3 users at a time and basically they are easily trained. The most important things have been to get work done in the fewest number of steps. And no "false moves". On one app I built lately there are several buttons down the right hand side of each of the main forms. I can put anything I want in their captions then handle all button clicks through a test of screen.activeform.name, screen.activeform.ActiveControl.Name. I ALWAYS use captions, never images, for just that reason. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Darryl Collins Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 7:46 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] User Interface Hah, that is pretty much what I wanted to say, but as usual, waffled off topic a fair bit... -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Tony Septav Sent: Monday, 29 August 2011 12:36 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: [AccessD] User Interface Hey John In designing a user interface I always try to keep it clean, simple and intuitive. Always keeping in mind that you are programming/designing not for the 99.9% but the .1% of the users ( a friend of mine used to laugh at this "You spent a lot of time trying to solve the .1% problem", that was until he worked with me on a project). I am always trying to keep in mind when designing, the lowest common denominator ,my theoretical "computer illiterate user". Meaning I control what a user can and cannot do. I am always trying to second guess the user and trying to shut any backdoors they may sneak into and open. I like to use single simple forms/single tab forms There is no HELP (the form should visually flow/display to the user what and how things need to be done) There are no menus. The information intuitively flows from top to bottom Where applicable some information may be highlighted in coloured boxes. I use colour sparingly as it can tend to make the form look goofy or too busy. The forms contain all the things, buttons, my navigation bars (when needed), list boxes, pop ups, etc. necessary to let the user carry out the activities the form is designed to perform. Where necesary the form may contain my own (not Access) message boxes intrusive - ".....Sorry cannot do that..." and nonintrusive - ".... Are you sure? Continue Y/N?" As most of you have probably done, I will design what I thought was a pretty cool form, but a week later when I go back to continue my testing, the form just doesn't seem to flow the way it should (not intuitive). So I tear apart and rebuild it and start again. Nothing new here, just my 2 cents worth. -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3864 - Release Date: 08/28/11