Database usability

Hi

Related to ACCESS but from a users perspective. Is there any style guide or
theoretical background website that anyone can point me to in relation to the
navigation, usability of screen designs (you know, colour contrasts, font
sizes, screen flows etc, etc). Have tried googling but it's not quite coming
up with the type of information I need.

TIA
--
Sue Compelling

This is a very subjective subject. People have all sort of opinions and
tastes. I always ask my clients their preferences and design based on that.
It is them who will be using it anyways. As for a website, I have never come
across one for Ms Access but there are some for web design that can give
color schemes/combo that work well together.

Personally, I like good color contrasts. Dark background with light text or
vice versa. You also have to find a balance betwen quantity of information
to display (font size) and legibility.

All in all, go with your gut and what your client/boss (the end-user) tells
you. If it doesn't feel right to you it probably isn't.
--
Hope this helps,

Daniel Pineault
http://www.cardaconsultants.com/
For Access Tips and Examples: http://www.devhut.net
Please rate this post using the vote buttons if it was helpful.



"Sue Compelling" wrote:

Hi

Related to ACCESS but from a users perspective. Is there any style guide or
theoretical background website that anyone can point me to in relation to the
navigation, usability of screen designs (you know, colour contrasts, font
sizes, screen flows etc, etc). Have tried googling but it's not quite coming
up with the type of information I need.

TIA
--
Sue Compelling

What kind of monitor cleaner would be required for Access? :-)

There are the broad fields of psychology and human factors engineering
that have already been applied in the hardware and software platforms
that make up a large part of the user interface. Access and other
platforms work within the provided environments. Each of those
platforms make up such a small part of the universe that they seldom
get separate focus on their user interface alone. Alan Cooper used to
give user interface and user interaction a lot of attention centered
on VB. He has since moved on to applying the concepts to other
things.

The subject of "user interface design" gets a lot of play and will
continue to do so. I googled the quoted phrase and came up with a
goodly list. One interesting paper is
http://www.sylvantech.com/~talin/pro...ui_design.html

Microsoft has published a style guide and it's probably available from
their web site or in the form of a book from Microsoft Press.

About the best you can do is to read the generally applicable user
interface guidelines and information and then improve on it if you can
and apply it to your Access designs. Even before you decide on the
design specifics you should decide on the goals that are common to
your applications and organize your presentation to best achieve those
goals.

My overarching goal is to provide clarity and ease of use, followed
closely by efficiency, to the users of the application. The general
progression within my forms is always Top to Bottom, Left to Right.
Those things which must be done early in the current process are
located in the top of the form. Command buttons are normally
arranged to the right margin. Navigation buttons are at the bottom.
You may choose to organize differently. It's important to your users
that there is a consistent "look and feel" throughout your
application.

HTH
--
-Larry-
--

"Sue Compelling" wrote in
message ...
Hi

Related to ACCESS but from a users perspective. Is there any style
guide or
theoretical background website that anyone can point me to in
relation to the
navigation, usability of screen designs (you know, colour contrasts,
font
sizes, screen flows etc, etc). Have tried googling but it's not
quite coming
up with the type of information I need.

TIA
--
Sue Compelling

Thanks alot for your generous responses Daniel and Larry - for some reason my
"notify me of replies" didn't work and I've only just picked these up. Cheers
--
Sue Compelling


"Larry Daugherty" wrote:

What kind of monitor cleaner would be required for Access? :-)

There are the broad fields of psychology and human factors engineering
that have already been applied in the hardware and software platforms
that make up a large part of the user interface. Access and other
platforms work within the provided environments. Each of those
platforms make up such a small part of the universe that they seldom
get separate focus on their user interface alone. Alan Cooper used to
give user interface and user interaction a lot of attention centered
on VB. He has since moved on to applying the concepts to other
things.

The subject of "user interface design" gets a lot of play and will
continue to do so. I googled the quoted phrase and came up with a
goodly list. One interesting paper is
http://www.sylvantech.com/~talin/pro...ui_design.html

Microsoft has published a style guide and it's probably available from
their web site or in the form of a book from Microsoft Press.

About the best you can do is to read the generally applicable user
interface guidelines and information and then improve on it if you can
and apply it to your Access designs. Even before you decide on the
design specifics you should decide on the goals that are common to
your applications and organize your presentation to best achieve those
goals.

My overarching goal is to provide clarity and ease of use, followed
closely by efficiency, to the users of the application. The general
progression within my forms is always Top to Bottom, Left to Right.
Those things which must be done early in the current process are
located in the top of the form. Command buttons are normally
arranged to the right margin. Navigation buttons are at the bottom.
You may choose to organize differently. It's important to your users
that there is a consistent "look and feel" throughout your
application.

HTH
--
-Larry-
--

"Sue Compelling" wrote in
message ...
Hi

Related to ACCESS but from a users perspective. Is there any style
guide or
theoretical background website that anyone can point me to in
relation to the
navigation, usability of screen designs (you know, colour contrasts,
font
sizes, screen flows etc, etc). Have tried googling but it's not
quite coming
up with the type of information I need.

TIA
--
Sue Compelling