Re: User Interface design ideas?
JP,
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Your screenprints are exactly what I have been searching for. I just though it was rather odd that it never occurred to Alpha to include such functionality in A5.
I don't want to go to a lot of effort and hassle to create appointments or schedules, and I certainly don't want to re-invent the wheel.
Neither do I want to do complex XBasic programming for a hierarchical browse which is a requirement for any kind of knowledge management or task/project outlining. Again Brilliant offers it right out of the box.
For my application, I was looking for three out of the box capabilities: email, calendar, and hierarchical grid/browse. Alpha delivers only the first.
As to the screenprints that were posted on this thread, my opinion is that they can be substantially improved. Guys, how about taking a look at Brilliant's forms and see if you can't pick up a pointer or two.
Listen, this is not a beauty contest which several of you seem to think it is.
It is about having an application that looks good at the customer demo stage and works well with users day after day after day.
For starters, I would make a couple of suggestions for David Kates' form:
1. Do not use a gradient for a browse row. Using a gradient for the column titles for the browse is just fine.
2. Do not use two styles of browses in the same form. Your form has two browses and they have different colors for the row 2 color. Why? A simpler and less jaring choice is to use one color.
3. The Browse's header should be the darker color. How about lightening up the blue for the Row 2 color.
4. Multiple browses on the same form should use the same font, size, and weight. Drop the use of bold for the left browse.
5. Adjust the row height of your browse, it is too large. I see that you may being using word wrap, but see if you lengthed the field to avoid this. Alpha's videos on button in grids provides a good example. The button should snugly fit in the cell, not with a gap like yours has on its bottom edge.
6. Consolidate and rearrange your buttons. I personally place my application icons at the top of a form (consistent with most commercial enterpise software today), but if you place them at the bottom that's fine. Why do you have two separate groupings of them.
7. Your buttons are two different heights for no apparent reason. Please, please make them the same size.
8. Your buttons use different gradients. Again why? Pick one and use it on all buttons.
9. The background color of your form and of the tab control don't work well. Ever consider selecting one color and then using Alpha's Solid color percents (starting with 90% down to transparent) to lighten the same color for the background.
10. Try to avoid white on a dark color for your labels. Nothing wrong with a slightly darker color for the label, but not so dark that you have to use white for the font color so that your text is readable.
OK, that's enough for now. But look how simple it was to make Dave's form more attractive and require a lot less work than he surely expended.
David, I hope you don't think I'm picking on you. I wish I had the time to write a paper comparing and contrasting the user interfaces of the top 50 selling enterprise, logistics, crm, or human resource packages today. I think if more Alpha users had this perspective, they could design stronger applications from the getgo.
Dave Mason's form presents even larger opportunities for improvement.
While I don't have the time to redesign your forms from scratch, if either of you would like to zip a database with the empty tables and the forms that you've shown here, I am willing to do a makeover if you would find that useful. Simple, clean, uncluttered is the look we're after.
Bob McGaffic
Pittsburgh, PA
PS: Any one notice that Brilliant's forms are consistent with my recommendations above?
PPS: Although it's just a first reaction, Brilliant appears to be the product I was hoping Alpha was. I haven't seen version 10, but I am really concerned that all the sneak peak improvements are for web based applications. May be this is Alpha's way of slowly, but surely, pulling the plug on its desktop capabilities by allowing other vendors to surpass it?
JP,
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Your screenprints are exactly what I have been searching for. I just though it was rather odd that it never occurred to Alpha to include such functionality in A5.
I don't want to go to a lot of effort and hassle to create appointments or schedules, and I certainly don't want to re-invent the wheel.
Neither do I want to do complex XBasic programming for a hierarchical browse which is a requirement for any kind of knowledge management or task/project outlining. Again Brilliant offers it right out of the box.
For my application, I was looking for three out of the box capabilities: email, calendar, and hierarchical grid/browse. Alpha delivers only the first.
As to the screenprints that were posted on this thread, my opinion is that they can be substantially improved. Guys, how about taking a look at Brilliant's forms and see if you can't pick up a pointer or two.
Listen, this is not a beauty contest which several of you seem to think it is.
It is about having an application that looks good at the customer demo stage and works well with users day after day after day.
For starters, I would make a couple of suggestions for David Kates' form:
1. Do not use a gradient for a browse row. Using a gradient for the column titles for the browse is just fine.
2. Do not use two styles of browses in the same form. Your form has two browses and they have different colors for the row 2 color. Why? A simpler and less jaring choice is to use one color.
3. The Browse's header should be the darker color. How about lightening up the blue for the Row 2 color.
4. Multiple browses on the same form should use the same font, size, and weight. Drop the use of bold for the left browse.
5. Adjust the row height of your browse, it is too large. I see that you may being using word wrap, but see if you lengthed the field to avoid this. Alpha's videos on button in grids provides a good example. The button should snugly fit in the cell, not with a gap like yours has on its bottom edge.
6. Consolidate and rearrange your buttons. I personally place my application icons at the top of a form (consistent with most commercial enterpise software today), but if you place them at the bottom that's fine. Why do you have two separate groupings of them.
7. Your buttons are two different heights for no apparent reason. Please, please make them the same size.
8. Your buttons use different gradients. Again why? Pick one and use it on all buttons.
9. The background color of your form and of the tab control don't work well. Ever consider selecting one color and then using Alpha's Solid color percents (starting with 90% down to transparent) to lighten the same color for the background.
10. Try to avoid white on a dark color for your labels. Nothing wrong with a slightly darker color for the label, but not so dark that you have to use white for the font color so that your text is readable.
OK, that's enough for now. But look how simple it was to make Dave's form more attractive and require a lot less work than he surely expended.
David, I hope you don't think I'm picking on you. I wish I had the time to write a paper comparing and contrasting the user interfaces of the top 50 selling enterprise, logistics, crm, or human resource packages today. I think if more Alpha users had this perspective, they could design stronger applications from the getgo.
Dave Mason's form presents even larger opportunities for improvement.
While I don't have the time to redesign your forms from scratch, if either of you would like to zip a database with the empty tables and the forms that you've shown here, I am willing to do a makeover if you would find that useful. Simple, clean, uncluttered is the look we're after.
Bob McGaffic
Pittsburgh, PA
PS: Any one notice that Brilliant's forms are consistent with my recommendations above?
PPS: Although it's just a first reaction, Brilliant appears to be the product I was hoping Alpha was. I haven't seen version 10, but I am really concerned that all the sneak peak improvements are for web based applications. May be this is Alpha's way of slowly, but surely, pulling the plug on its desktop capabilities by allowing other vendors to surpass it?
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