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Circular and shaped buttons
- Thread starter tedsmith
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dilettante
MIS
Trying to make a Windows program look like some funky Web page is almost always a bad idea. Programs adhering to the Windows UI guidelines (as almost all programs should) do not do this. The primary reason is to avoid a new learning curve for users every time they start using a new program. Consistency in the UI avoids this extra cost.
Just look at Linux applications where every single program requries that you waste time bashing things with the mouse-click trying to figure out what does what. Or the similar nightmare involved in many a "clever" Web page.
But you can always roll your own using PictureBox or UserControl buttons if you insist. Sometimes you do need one or two unique things for a special purpose.
Just look at Linux applications where every single program requries that you waste time bashing things with the mouse-click trying to figure out what does what. Or the similar nightmare involved in many a "clever" Web page.
But you can always roll your own using PictureBox or UserControl buttons if you insist. Sometimes you do need one or two unique things for a special purpose.
HughLerwill
Programmer
>Windows UI guidelines
Seems even MS break the rules sometimes;
They've been playing with 'Orbs' in the OS UI since Vista and Office 2007 although I notice they've been taken out of Office 2010.
Then there is the 'Ribbon' in the Office apps since 2007 which is still just very horrible indeed.
Seems even MS break the rules sometimes;
They've been playing with 'Orbs' in the OS UI since Vista and Office 2007 although I notice they've been taken out of Office 2010.
Then there is the 'Ribbon' in the Office apps since 2007 which is still just very horrible indeed.
>Don't assign nonstandard behaviors to the common controls
They do indeed on occassion
Orbs?
>Ribbon ... which is still just very horrible indeed
Personal preference, I'd suggest. Some people like it. No, really they do. And it is covered in great detail in the latest UI documentation. Here's a link to the relevant section
They do indeed on occassion
Orbs?
>Ribbon ... which is still just very horrible indeed
Personal preference, I'd suggest. Some people like it. No, really they do. And it is covered in great detail in the latest UI documentation. Here's a link to the relevant section
- Thread starter
- #5
I appreciate you can easily do it with the available controls in code and even make an activeX but I wondered if you could get it already done well by a third party that you can drag to your form as easily as the normal one.
All of the download examples I have found are very amateurish with no significant 3d effect at all.
>Trying to make a Windows program look like some funky Web page is almost always a bad idea
Avoiding something new or funky is like trying to get teenagers to turn down the volume!
If it's not funky, many people will dismiss it as "old hat" with no WOW factor. "Primitive" was one comment I had before adding some funk!
A good example being that Windows7 now really looks nothing like Windows98 anymore.
Strange this post suddenly became right justified in the typing window with the full stops at the start of the lines! - it seems OK after Previewing and Re-editing. I wondered what happened?.
All of the download examples I have found are very amateurish with no significant 3d effect at all.
>Trying to make a Windows program look like some funky Web page is almost always a bad idea
Avoiding something new or funky is like trying to get teenagers to turn down the volume!
If it's not funky, many people will dismiss it as "old hat" with no WOW factor. "Primitive" was one comment I had before adding some funk!
A good example being that Windows7 now really looks nothing like Windows98 anymore.
Strange this post suddenly became right justified in the typing window with the full stops at the start of the lines! - it seems OK after Previewing and Re-editing. I wondered what happened?.
- Thread starter
- #7
HughLerwill
Programmer
Re orbs I have no idea, however;
Have you tried using a manifest to force use of 'XP Style'/ v6 Common Controls, that can spruce up an old app to look more contemporary at a stoke with very little development effort.
Although it requires more work you should also consider using a more fashionable UI font i.e. adopt that used by the host OS's UI. This may be something that you should do anyway if you are still using MS San Serif (any bit-mapped font)and you require complete compatibility with Windows 7. MS San Serif (bit-mapped fonts) can behave badly on Win 7 if the screen DPI is changed from that set initially when the OS is installed.
Have you tried using a manifest to force use of 'XP Style'/ v6 Common Controls, that can spruce up an old app to look more contemporary at a stoke with very little development effort.
Although it requires more work you should also consider using a more fashionable UI font i.e. adopt that used by the host OS's UI. This may be something that you should do anyway if you are still using MS San Serif (any bit-mapped font)and you require complete compatibility with Windows 7. MS San Serif (bit-mapped fonts) can behave badly on Win 7 if the screen DPI is changed from that set initially when the OS is installed.
>Windows7 now really looks nothing like Windows98 anymore
However, it remains consistent with the common controls. If you dropped W7 onto a W98 user they'd still recognize all the normal chrome (command buttons, listboxes, comboboxes, pop-up and dropdown menus, option buttons radio check buttons etc) and they would still all work exactly the way they expect them to work. Which is the whole point.
W7 (and Vista before it) merely added new metaphors, new controls and some new graphical tweaks (this latter mainly because they now have more screen space to play with since screen resolutions have gone up since the days of XP) to support those metaphors. It didn't change the old ones.
And as HughLerwill points out, you can use a manifest with your program to ensure it uses the Vista/W7 graphical tweaks (i.e your program will look like a native W7 program rather than an XP program)
However, it remains consistent with the common controls. If you dropped W7 onto a W98 user they'd still recognize all the normal chrome (command buttons, listboxes, comboboxes, pop-up and dropdown menus, option buttons radio check buttons etc) and they would still all work exactly the way they expect them to work. Which is the whole point.
W7 (and Vista before it) merely added new metaphors, new controls and some new graphical tweaks (this latter mainly because they now have more screen space to play with since screen resolutions have gone up since the days of XP) to support those metaphors. It didn't change the old ones.
And as HughLerwill points out, you can use a manifest with your program to ensure it uses the Vista/W7 graphical tweaks (i.e your program will look like a native W7 program rather than an XP program)
- Thread starter
- #10
I have seen a few articles on Manifest that you refer to but I am having difficulty in relating it to how exactly you apply it to a vb6 app?
Like many Microhard's descriptions, they seem to be preaching to people that already know what it is and what to do!
Also if you run your same app in Win7 and XP computers, will they look the same or only look Win7-ish in a Win7 computer?
A simple explanation of how it all ties together would be appreciated?
Like many Microhard's descriptions, they seem to be preaching to people that already know what it is and what to do!
Also if you run your same app in Win7 and XP computers, will they look the same or only look Win7-ish in a Win7 computer?
A simple explanation of how it all ties together would be appreciated?
>only look Win7-ish in a Win7 computer?
Correct
One bonus is that it can also make your programs look more XPish under XP ...
Here's a link to a (VB6) tool that can create manifests, and has a fair amount of info on what settings you might need.
Correct
One bonus is that it can also make your programs look more XPish under XP ...
Here's a link to a (VB6) tool that can create manifests, and has a fair amount of info on what settings you might need.
peterh3244
Programmer
I did this by using the shape control and placing the button in it. The shape should be vitually the same size (slightly bigger) then the button. Then set the shapes properties as appropiate, ie is it has rounded corners. The make the shape the same colour as the button.
And to the question of the non standard controls, i think that a button with rounded corners is obviously a button and therefore should not present confusion to the users. But it does give a program a more polished look.
And to the question of the non standard controls, i think that a button with rounded corners is obviously a button and therefore should not present confusion to the users. But it does give a program a more polished look.
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