GUI style/design - please give your opinion

[andyberlin2000]

Hi,

when I look at a PC screen (public admin, insurance etc.) I seem to find more and more Java applications using a GUI style similar to a browser (definitely not running in a browser...!) using lots of colors, 2-dimensional rounded buttons etc. After watching dicussions ( Swing / SWT etc) I was not prepared to find developers "simulate" browser software in ordinary applications.

My question to you:
- Is this latest development in "GUI fashion" ?
- Is this stylish or does it make usage easier for the dummy user?
- Do you like such a software "face" or do you think a button should look like a button (in those "good old days") ?
- As a decision maker, would you prefer to buy such software?
- should the graphical appearance of screen elements be standardized for "all" times ?

Thanks for any hints or statements...
A.

 

[sedj]

Not really sure what you mean by GUIs in the "Good Old days". I can rememember Oracle's Java GUI installer had rounded buttons, and that was 4 years ago, and also I am sure I remember my Apple 2 (15 years ago ?) used to have rounded buttons !

I would say that rather than GUIs trying to emulate browsers, its more the other way round - I think more and more websites try to emulate a GUI !

What you are probably thinking of was the days before Java when a lot of standalone applications were written using MFC, and were all the default standard Windows grey.

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[Diancecht]

Greeting from the commercial side.

When you develop some software, a key on success is the aceptation from the end user, and there the GUI is determinant.

Wether the buttons are rounded or not will only depend on what the user is used to. I've been on some projects where the user was used to the old black and green applications and we forced the new applicationto look like this.

Coming back to Java, I think a good idea is to mimetize applications with the environment, That's what Look and Feel is for.

Anyway, I think I don'r understand the browser thingie. I think browsers just render some content provided by a lot of people, and those people also try to mimetize within the environment.

Cheers,

Dian

 

[tom62]

I believe that the programs that I develop must be easy for the user to understand and easy for him/her to use. The Look and Feel I find in that respect of little importance.

More important is what you can do with the GUI to make to program friendlier to use. Any button at the wrong place; a confusing menu structure; cryptic error messages, etc. etc. ruins what could otherwise be a very good program. I've seen many people (including myself) cursing programs, not because the program doesn't look stylish and great, but because they are frustrating to use.

Anyway you should give the users what they want, even if you don't like it yourself. On the other hand, I'm glad that I'd never had to develop a green and black application (yuck!).

Ciao,

Tom

 

[jstreich]

The big questions in GUI design don't have to with rounded corners or square corners, winDOZE grey or that cool Sage color... It has to do with placement, visual cues and simple usability issues.

Placement
If I can't find a feature in a peice of software, then I don't know that it is tere, and I don't use the software.

Cues
If I can't tell when the program is done doing X,Y or Z, can't tell if it took my click or not, or don't know if the thing I did "worked" or "failed"... then there's a problem with the software.

Usability:
In order to do simple task X, how many buttons do I have to press, how many screens do I have to click through.


I think that most GUIs of old used the same look and feel because it was easy to do so. Now there is a push to have a cool look and feel to attract newer crowds. Windows that aren't just "boxes" but shaped and contured (which is very hard to do in java, if it is possible at all). I personally don't care if an application is a work of art or look like standard grey box, what I can is that I can use the tool to do the job I need to do it and the way I expect it to do it.

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