I agree with these guidelines also (only title, expand/collapse button and optional help link in the screenlet title bar and the submit at the bottom).
Moreover I am thinking to a general FindScreen standard layout and functional improvement that I briefly describe here hoping not being OT. It would be great IMO to have in the list form of every FindScreen (optionally) a first column of check boxes that let the user to select several items and than a combo box above the list that let the user to select a command to execute on them. Basically this is how gmail looks like. I would like for example to use this to select several product to change their image with in a single shot, or to include all of them in the promotion category. I am thinking how to implement this (already received some hint by you on using the multi form) but may be some other hint could be beneficial. Thank you, Bruno 2008/7/8 David E Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > On Jul 7, 2008, at 3:55 PM, Adrian Crum wrote: > > As has been discussed in other message threads, some screenlets have >> unusual links in their title bars. I'd like to request comments on the use >> of links in screenlets and develop a Best Practice for them. >> >> The current use of links in screenlet title bars makes the UI very >> inconsistent. On one screen a "Create New" link is a button under the page >> title, on another screen it is in the screenlet title bar. On most screens, >> a form's Submit button is at the bottom of the form, and in other screens it >> is in the screenlet title bar. There are other examples. >> > > Fortunately this is pretty rare in OFBiz. I say fortunately because this is > one of the biggest travesties in UI design that I've ever seen. It slows > users down at best, and stops first-time users dead in their tracks trying > to find the stupid button because it's not at the bottom of the form where > EVERY submit button in the world is. Having other links in the header along > with the form submit makes it even worse because when submitting the form it > is easy to miss and click on one of those, killing your work in the form. I > don't know where this came from, but it's awful and we should never do it. > > One interesting thing that I think is okay (but not great) in the header > bar is wizard progress links, like in the checkout process in the order > manager. Still, even that would be better as buttons with arrows pointing to > the right between them or something, and just below the screenlet header... > or better yet get rid of the header altogether because it's ugly. > > To be fair, I originally liked the idea of having list pagination in the >> screenlet title bar - like in the Find Party screen. I even gave the >> screenlet widget the ability to put a contained form's pagination in there. >> But I have changed my mind. That also makes the UI inconsistent because most >> lists have their own pagination menus above and below the list. >> >> I'm beginning to think screenlet title bars should contain very little >> information: the screenlet title, an optional expand/collapse link, and an >> optional Help link. All other links should follow established best practices >> - Submit links are at the bottom of forms, Create New links are at the top >> of the screenlet body, etc. In other words, follow the same pattern inside >> the screenlet that you would follow in the main content area. >> > > Yes, they should have very little in them. I agree with that. There could > certainly be exceptions, but that's a good guideline. > > BTW, on style: the dark blue headers on these are a little bit... well... > "heavy" might be the right word. If anyone want to play with making this > prettier maybe something lighter would be nice, but that's really another > topic and anyone with a text editor and a basic knowledge of CSS can change > that to their liking. > > -David > >
