GUI Design Question

[Dave]

What books, articles, guides, etc. would you recommend on good GUI design
principles and practices? Thanks.

Dave

 

[Martin]

Just "steal" from Microsoft Office. There are a few very good reasons to do
this:
1) Microsoft has invested a lot of time and research to make it a good
interface.
2) The user will feel "at home" right away in your app.
3) The controls supplied with VS2005 are all in line with that design
4) Gives your app a sophisticated and professional "look and feel"

Don't you hate it when you start an app where everything looks and works
"different"?

 

[Carlos J. Quintero [VB MVP]]

Hi Dave,

Start with the basics:

Windows XP - Guidelines for Applications
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/Resources/windowsxp/default.mspx

And then, books, web sites and newsletters. The greatest gurus are:

Alan Cooper (Windows apps)
http://www.cooper.com/content/insights/cooper_books.asp

His book "About Face" is a classic and a must.

Jacob Nielsen (Web sites)
http://www.useit.com/

--

Best regards,

Carlos J. Quintero

MZ-Tools: Productivity add-ins for Visual Studio
You can code, design and document much faster:
http://www.mztools.com

 

[Larry Lard]

Just "steal" from Microsoft Office. There are a few very good reasons to do
this:
1) Microsoft has invested a lot of time and research to make it a good
interface.
2) The user will feel "at home" right away in your app.
3) The controls supplied with VS2005 are all in line with that design
4) Gives your app a sophisticated and professional "look and feel"

Don't you hate it when you start an app where everything looks and works
"different"?

Mind you, that's going to happen to everyone when Office 12 is released

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

What books, articles, guides, etc. would you recommend on good GUI design
principles and practices?

Official Guidelines for User Interface Developers and Designers
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwue/html/welcome.asp>

User Interface Design and Development
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnanchor/html/anch_uidesigndev.asp>

Windows XP Visual Styles:

Windows XP - Guidelines for Applications
<URL:http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/windowsxp/downloads/default.mspx>

 

[Ken Halter]

Just "steal" from Microsoft Office. There are a few very good reasons to
do this:
1) Microsoft has invested a lot of time and research to make it a good
interface.
2) The user will feel "at home" right away in your app.
3) The controls supplied with VS2005 are all in line with that design
4) Gives your app a sophisticated and professional "look and feel"

Don't you hate it when you start an app where everything looks and works
"different"?

Just don't get too carried away with Tab controls ;-) Remember... One row of
tabs is plenty (say that until you believe it <g>)

MS is the star of the "User Interface Hall of Shame" in the Tabbed Dialog
department.
(http://homepage.mac.com/bradster/iarchitect/tabs.htm)

 

[Martin]

Hehehe, yes I absolutely agree with you on that.

But speaking of tabs... have you sen MultiEdit (my favorite code editor)? I
think that one tops the ranks of "too many tabs" ;-)

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I will check them all out.