Hello all,
We currently have an old Access app that I am currently planning to convert to a VB.NET windows forms app. The navigation design of this Access "Switch Board" form is way too drawn out. It is made up of nothing but buttons in the middle of the form to show more buttons (if sub-drilling) or to open a form. Well, sometimes it takes 5 or 6 click throughs to get to the form I want to display. About 10 employees here use this system and are semi-happy with the existing navigation. Well I hate it. I look at it as if a new person came on-board, could they easily navigate through all those buttons.
So now I wanna redesign the navigation to suit the existing users and be simple enough for new comers to navigate with ease. Are there any "form/navigation" design books or even website articles out there that could be of any help
Thanks in advance,
Brian
Need advice designing Navigation system.
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Need advice designing Navigation system.
Scott Colestock
Check out the MSDN Patterns and Best Practices...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/practices
Especially the guides....
http://msdn.microsoft.com/practices/guidetype/Guides/default.aspx
Hoang Le
I know there are several articles on msdn about forms navigation. My advise to you is to keep it simple. There are probably all kinds of application blocks or other fancy things out there that give you alot of flexibility. I've tried several of these, but the best solution I've found so far is keeping it simple.
Personally, I prefer MDI applications (if it fits the requirements or need) with smart menus (menus that change dynamically based on what window is open). There is even a template for creating an MDI parent form in VS2005. Generally, for any project I start out by creating a high level use case of what all the actor or actors can do. I use this to design my menus intuitively (have had pretty good success). Research merging menus... here is a good start http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms233676.aspx .
Hope that helps