I've seen the custom look & feel developed as a way of gaining product differentiation - something 'shinier' for the demos. But for me, when it comes to developing a non-terminal UI on top of unidata for your typical business application, I would always recommend going with the UI guidelines for the target platform. There's nothing worse (imo) than non-standard interfaces - they as often as not look clunky when they're first developed and quickly fall behind as the operating system is updated, as we're seeing now with xp/vista/win7 and to a lesser extent Mac, Linux etc.
Ed -----Original Message----- From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org [mailto:u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of Susan Joslyn Sent: 12 July 2010 13:33 To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Subject: [U2] UI standards Good morning. In developing a new user interface - how have you folks established standards? When I google around I find an immense amount of information. Accessibility standards. Industry standards. And many games and applications have published their standards - how to make your software look like theirs so your users are already familiar. I don't see as many published standards regarding data entry screens. (But I am still plowing through thousands of search results!) Still many of these standards are personal choice. Or in some cases far to the opposite extreme - you can find psychological studies about what colors to use, for example. If you set standards on a previous interface and now move to another - how much do you want to stick to your standards for consistency and compatibility and how much do you want to break out and show-off that this is, after all, a new interface? Obviously there are technical limitations - with the new stuff, always. But what about design decisions you made based on previous limitations - and now those limitations are lifted!? How crazy do you go? What do users really want? (Now there is something to ponder!) Any thoughts, ideas, references and discussion on this topic from anyone? Susan _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail and any attachment(s), is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are not the addressee, dissemination, copying or use of this e-mail or any of its content is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient please inform the sender immediately and destroy the e-mail, any attachment(s) and any copies. All liability for viruses is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. It is your responsibility to scan or otherwise check this email and any attachment(s). Unless otherwise stated (i) views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender (ii) no contract may be construed by this e-mail. Emails may be monitored and you are taken to consent to this monitoring. Civica Services Limited, Company No. 02374268; Civica UK Limited, Company No. 01628868 Both companies are registered in England and Wales and each has its registered office at 2 Burston Road, Putney, London, SW15 6AR. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
