Slashdot Mirror
Complex GUI Architecture Discussion?
XNuke asks: "I have been searching for intelligent discussion (on dead trees or otherwise) of the issues involved in designing very complex GUIs. Things on the level of TecPlot, AutoCad, 3DS, etc, where there may be very many different views of the same data and there are many degrees of freedom for the user. I am not interested in 'where to put the buttons', but rather the nuts and bolts of making the 'Well Designed UI' work. I guess I am looking for a sort of 'Design Patterns applied to a big deskptop application' sort of discussion. It is no problem to find discussions of Model-View-Controller concepts at the component level, but at the application level there seems to be nothing. Too often the architectural level discussions encompass non-interactive, server side design issues and not the extremely chaotic problems a client side application with many degrees of freedom has. Short of wading through megabytes of source code for KWord et. al., does anyone know of any digested information? There is obviously no 'One Solution' to this, but there must be something out there."
Once the Fnords sang out a tune of hideous melody, the golden apple was fertilized. "To each his own", the goddess muttered as her lovely counterparts tip-toed to avoid her chaotic grasp. In their midst lay poisonous amphibians, ophidian serpents of some sort which posed no real danger to anyone close by. Their scaly fins were useless in such muck, but they'd soon adapt. This simple fact did not bring fear to the goddess, but moreso a faint sense of annoyance. The monks were acting up again, she realized. The serpents would be dealt with later. In an instant she was relocated to their world and set herself silently upon their garden of sand. They were meditating now, oblivious to mundane surroundings, but she remained patient. One monk in training loosely opened an eye. "He's not ready!" she thought and concealed a giggle. He was the one best suited for what she had in mind. A raise of her fist and each robed man opened his eyes. "Jesus.." one whispered and proceeded to die. The goddess was a fan of irony. So much so that she summoned the cathedral's overwhelming cockroach population to carry the surviving holy men away. For years the monks condemned the destruction of life, and not one sandal had claimed the soul of any member of the roach infestation. The critters were large. And the critters could fly. They emerged from every orifice of the building, crunching their mandibles with delight. Still, as each man came to realize his death, each man refused to fight. "Reincarnation buffs" she thought, and a smirk arose on her face
I'd recommend starting with Norman's The design of every day things. Then, if you're still interested, look over human factors resources. There are very large books that have been written on this question.
I wouldn't call their interface 'good' by any means.
Macintosh gets UI design right with Interface Builder (which came from NeXTSTEP). I cannot recommend it enough.
But what do I know. I'm just looking for anonymous gay sex.
... but why are they keeping it a secret? Presumably not to cause widespread panic.
Why would this be? It's clear that there are only two possibilities as to who the murderer is:
1. The sniper is a high ranking official in the US Army. This is the conspiracy theorist's favorite choice. Obviously, this is where the sniper would have received such training. And it is a convenient leftist myth that Uncle Sam's finest, faced with the possibility of fighting an unjust war, will be cracking up, fearing another Vietnam.
2. The truth however is obvious. The sniper is a muslim. All muslims receive weekly training in the art of murder at their terrorist training camps (mosques). The reason why this fact hasn't been revealed is that it would cause the American public, as one, to rise up and eradicate the islamic filth from the country. And as the 'good guys', we don't want to appear to be racist.
Personally, I believe, along with every heterosexual Slashdot poster, that it is ABOUT TIME we did something about these rag-wearing animals that pollute our welfare system.
But alas, the leftists are in control of the media. A white kills a muslim on US soil, and it is declared a racist attack. A gang of muslims rape and murder a white woman in Saudi Arabia, and the same bullshit story of 'western alcohol bootleggers' is replayed. And our media, fearing even the slightest hint of political incorrectness, lap the story up.
Saudi Arabia are NOT our allies. And mecca shall be in ruins before the decade is through.
No it's not.
Hail Eris!
If your average grandma can sit down and use it the first time, then it's userfriendly.
Simple but true.
He would call what you are talking about "interaction design" not "interface design". The Inmates book makes a good case for how the two are different and why interaction design is a better approach.
Tt just won't support a complex GUI: no drag & drop, no modal windows, stateless client model, weak widget set, poor window-to-window interaction, poor browser-to-OS interaction, etc.
my $.02
there's no place like ~
So how many Carnegie Mellon grad students does it take to figure out what a middle finger means?
Well, I've found -- for me, at least -- that if I can make a good GUI if I stick my pinky up my ass.
It's quick, simple, and gets the job done.
Be warned, however, that if you plan any serious gooey ass exploration, don't go smoking any Madagascar Robusto cigarillos. My mom's boyfriend brought some of those home from Bermuda and those things *require* an industrial air mover near any bathroom.
Yes, this is sick and disgusting -- and will most certainly be mod'd off-topic by the do-good-imps, but sweet mother of god, sometimes the truth needs to be spoken. Even if it is poopee humor.
I wrote a bunch of the good stuff you've seen since 1981, and I need a job. You know where to reach me.
real men use vi
In exchange for $$$, Slashdot runs an Ask Slashdot with the chosen Google Question. Free answers from Geeks, $$$ for Slashdot, exposure for Google Answers. HMMMMM.
Or not. What was the question again?
I have come to tell you that you are free...
The computer is not both the "tool and master". The programmer is the master and the computer is his trusted henchman. The users are the tools.