Visual Basic 6.0: Desktop Applications, Part 1
Extra Field Trips & Exercises
Week 3 Field Trip #1:
Here are a couple of resources to consider when designing the Graphical User Interface (GUI):
- Microsoft Windows User Experience:
Official Guidelines for User Interface Developers and Designers
(particularly good is the Checklist for a Good Interface)
- IBM developerWorks: The user experience, Part 3: Using controls in forms
Some questions to ponder:
- What is the best application you've ever used from a UI point of view? The worst?
- Have you ever not used an application that worked just fine because you didn't like its UI?
- Is there a UI technique/effect/function that you're hoping to learn in this course?
Week 3 Field Trip #2:
Most of you have probably taken or at least seen the course book for the beginning VB class - on p.734, one of the students has a revelation about UI issues for customers over the age of 40. Now, I'm quite a distance from 40 still (ha ha ha), but these are important issues that belong in a discussion of UI.
I'd like you all to read this article, "Making Text Legible: Designing for People with Partial Sight", written by the folks at Lighthouse International (a non-profit group that assists the visually impaired). Their guidelines are not only good for those with partial site, but for the general population as a whole, particularly "Baby Boomers" (which includes "those over 40"...) For more on legible text see Simple Steps to More Readable Type Through Universal Graphic Design. This is part of a larger initiative called Universal Design.
I do a lot of web design and legibility is a HUGE consideration (and I have to say that the big type on the Lighthouse pages is really, really easy to read! :-)
If you'd like to see Microsoft's perspective on the importance of usability issues, see this MSDN article, Usability in the Development Process.
And here are a few other resources:
IBM Software Accessibility Checklist
Can Color-Blind Users See Your Site?
Please feel free to discuss - if you know of any other usability links or have some personal anecdotes, it would be great if you could post those :-)
(and, yes, I posted that in larger type on purpose...:-)
Week 3 PDF Goodies:
Turn Bad UIs Into Good UIs (zip file of pdf print, complete with figures, listings, images and code samples)
Our SysOp's Article:
Web Pages for Everyone by Steven J. Ericson
Week 4 Field Trip #1:
A Field Trip to the Zoo!
...the O'Reilly Zoo, that is :-) Check out this excerpt from one of their [out of print] VB books: Visual Basic Controls in a Nutshell. You can even download their examples.
Week 4 Field Trip #2:
Since I'm Not Much Use With Them...
The dreaded Tree View! Have at it! ;-)
Week 4 Field Trip #3:
From the author of GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Dos for Software Developers and Web Designers (Jeff Johnson) here's his web site.
Week 4 Exercise:
Attached is a project zip file in which I have tried to botch the UI as much as I could. Please download it to your machine, open it, play with it as though you were a non-programming end user, and post what you think is wrong with the UI. Have some fun with this! (If no one posts I'll have to draw the conclusion that you don't see anything wrong at all with it ;-)
[Additional Info]
Here's a zip of the Executable file - don't forget you'll need the basic run-time files from Microsoft if you don't have Visual Basic 6 installed on your machine. Also, grab the Email Addresses text file.
To Be Continued...
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