Archive for May 1st, 2008
Some Software Design Guidelines
Here are some standards that most users are accustomed to see in windows applications.
A standard menu bar. Keep the menu bar as standard as possible. Here is a standard menu item strip. Of course you will have much more in your menu bar. But here is the bare minimum.
File: New, Open, Save, Save As.., Print, Page Setup, Print Preview, Exit
Edit: Cut, Copy, Paste
Tools: Customize, Options
Help: Check for Updates, About
Display the opened file name in the title bar.
Ask for confirmation when the user deletes anything.
Ask for saving the active file if the user has unsaved changes.
A document processor (like Word or AutoCAD) should open a new file by default. A project management system (like Visual Studio) should not load any project by default.
While the user is to select an option use Radio button instead of combo boxes if there are only three or fewer options and if the number of options are not going to increase in the future. For example see the difference between the Hotmail User Sign Up form and the Yahoo! sign up form.
VS
Validate data only where the lack of validations will crash the application or make a feature unusable. For example validate all email ids in a mailing list app. Do not validate phone umbers in mailing list app.
