On 12/07/10 14:26, George Gallen wrote: > Keep in mind that fancier, is not always better. First you will need to > determine what information you > need, then look into UI that gather this type of information. > Might not be easy having both, but can you keep both green screen and gui? Gui is great for people who only use the app occasionally, but if it's going to be used all day every day, green screen (despite being seen as old fashioned) is usually a lot easier. > If your using a gui interface, using drop down boxes/radio buttons to > standardize selections is best > and text when least possible. > > Keeping in mind that switching from keyboard to mouse and back really slows > entry down. >
But selecting an entry from a LOT of choices is very slow in a drop-down ... try and give the user the option of using the mouse or keyboard to select - oh and let them type in a string, don't assume that every character they type is the FIRST character :-( if you've got a thousand possible choices, letting the user type the first character still gives them 40 to choose from, which is too many for comfort. > Funny, how we all hate the green screen entry, but at the same time, writing > a UI, esp a GUI to do the > same thing as easier/faster as the green screen is very difficult. > > Just because the UI may be outdated with current "looks", doesn't make it > obsolete or non-functional. > > to the OP, why not involve in the users on what they would like, or how they > think the current interface > could be improved to suit them better. > > Oh - and don't copy a database I've just been using ... I tried to enter a Brownie on the national database, and ended up having to enter them three times before it would let me proceed. Firstly it demanded information I didn't have (so I faked it :-) but I missed something so it rejected it with an error. So I went back to try again, fixed the error, and discovered that it had thrown away all the information that WASN'T in error. So third attempt, I finally managed to get it right and persuade the database to accept it. (Doesn't help that one of the senior people in charge of the database is my wife's Guiding boss, and as a professional I don't think very much of how well the database has been done :-( My wife doesn't like me moaning but I hear other guiders cursing the database too ...) Cheers, Wol _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
