Migrating Internet Basic applications to a windowed Graphical User Interface (GUI) Brian Levantine

Legacy Comet Applications The Good The Bad The Ugly

The Good No distractions Fast data entry Easy coding It works

The Bad Proprietary User Interface Non-intuitive Trial and error data entry No or little mouse support Applications are difficult to learn

The Ugly You’ll never get to The Good if you can’t sell the product

User Interface Design Where to begin –Check out the competition –Ask current users –Share ideas with other dealers –Experiment

User Interface Design First impression (and maybe the only) –Splash screen – identify your product –Login dialog – security –Menus – always coming or going –Screens that potential clients are most likely to look at –Screens that are most commonly used

Design Implementation Make sure you understand the purpose and behavior of each of the user interface elements that you intend to use

Design Implementation Start simple using simple UI elements and build up as you improve your understanding of each technique

Design Implementation Build and test the entire (as much as you can) UI before integrating with business logic

Design Implementation Observe procedural coding standards –Helps organize program –Self documenting – if you take the time to use meaningful statement labels –Modular – easy to share among other programs –Don’t jump (goto) into legacy code

Where to Get More Information Microsoft Visual Studio “The Windows User Experience”