Now that our layout from my May 26, 2010 post is looking pretty much how we want it to, let’s look at one more thing we can do to make it easier for our users to enter data — and enter it consistently.
I briefly tried to think of a title for this post that made some sort of Viagra joke (you know, with objects getting bigger), but couldn’t think of anything clever. That’s your loss, I’m afraid: What this world really needs is more Viagra jokes.
Anyhow, one of the many cool options that FileMaker came out with a couple versions ago — in FileMaker 9 — was auto-resizing. This gives the developer the ability to specify what layout objects should grow — and in what directions — as the user increases the size of the window. (more…)
All right now, kids. Last time, we added some related data on those empty tabs, and used it to create more intuitive navigation. So what’s next?
Let’s spit-polish this thang with some finishing touches. (more…)
So, in my last post, we folded the layout space a little by adding tabs to the layout. That’s pretty cool. Now we can add some related data in that extra space.
Now why would we want to do that? Let’s have another look at the layout in its current incarnation (more…)
More work on that nasty layout from my May 26, 2010 post. It’s time to give the user some more data. That’s right, we’re going to improve the user experience by putting more stuff on the layout. Haven’t we been slowly removing things these past few weeks?
Yea, Bob. We have. But it’s not all about the visual. We want accessibility too. (more…)
Hey y’all. We’re slowly getting there. Just to recap: The layout from my May 26, 2010 post started out looking like this:
… but with some attention to colours, vague icons, text styles, and overdone effects, we’ve been able to get it looking like this:
That’s hardly embarrassing at all. Now let’s take the next step. It’s time to look at placement and alignment of the layout objects — or “Where’n hell do we put all this stuff?” (more…)
Part 4 in my series of cleaning up the layout from my May 26, 2010 post is a pretty simple one. There are some inconsistent layout effects being applied. Have a look at the most recent version of the wild layout.
See the effect on all the fields and buttons. They all look to be three dimensional. Hey man, James Cameron spent a bajillion dollars on making Avatar three dimensional (and very little money on writers, but that’s not what this blog is about). If it’s good enough for him, why not go nuts? (more…)
Time to do some more work on that wild layout from my May 26, 2010 post. First, we cleaned up the colour badness. Then we took care of the vague icons.
Here’s what our latest layout looks like:
Still needs some work, eh? Let’s talk about the text: We’ll start with the field labels.
Remember this layout? This is from my May 26, 2010 post. We started cleaning it up later that day by getting rid of the “clown puke” colours.
Before:
After:
A definite improvement, but it still needs some work. So what’s next?
Okay, maybe it’s time to talk about our good friend, Lovable Furry Old Grover. (more…)
Remember this layout? This is from my May 26, 2010 post. I had promised that over time, we would clean this up to be a layout you wouldn’t be ashamed to show your boss. Guess I’d better start delivering, eh?
I’ll start off with an easy one: Colour. …well, easy-ish. (more…)