AP: Great Interface Design With Greg Regan
Great interface design “sells” applications.
In this presentation, Greg Regan shares lessons he learned in a decades long career in Access development.
Years of great web design and phone apps have raised expectations for all applications. Unfortunately, many fully functional MS Access solutions look terrible, and that can mean potential clients are reluctant to invest in the Access solution.
We do “judge books by their covers.” Access developers need to invest in great interface design for Access.
Greg outlines a comprehensive strategy and methods to accomplish that goal.
Table of Contents:
00:00 - Introduction ro Greg Regan, Welcome and brief bio
03:58 - Putting effort into a good interface is essential
04:36 - WHY It's Important
05:29 - Our work impacts other Access developers -- Let's make each other look good
06:52 - "Garage built" VS "Custom built" Appearance reflects professional work
10:05 - Accessibility matters to users
11:57 - Choosing Colors
12:04 - Client Branding and Color Choices
14:00 - Select color palettes
15:12 - Font Size and Color are related
15:32 - https://coolors.co/ for samples of great color palettes
17:33 - Contrasting colors
18:13 - Lighter font colors on darker background promote user comfort
18:27 - Large Fonts can be darker, small fonts should be lighter
18:32 - "Compartmentalize" a form with font size and shade
19:33 - Preferred font choices
19:44 - Avoid Serif fonts for online
21:03 - Numbers in fonts require different evaluation
21:32 - Font kerning -- how text is spaced within a word
22:05 - Emphasize function over rules
22:14 - Softness in interface design
23:24 - Lighter fonts on darker backgrounds make for more comfortable reading
23:42 - Compare soft contrast to harsh contrast
24:28 - Contrast in forms
25:12 - Form borders support better delineation of elements
25:39 - Benefits of icons over text for labels
26:43 - Admin function with extensive menu is text based--low usage
27:06 - Invest development time in high use form design
27:32 - Use tooltips with icons to provide better experience
28:48 - Icon plus text only when needed
29:26 - Custom icons
29:32 - Metro Studio Icon Designer - https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/...
37:06 - Customization of visual components
37:55 - Better checkboxes
40:28 - Anatomy of Custom checkboxes -- how they work
42:55 - Custom Tool Tips
44:08 - Set focus to helper control, i.e. a "Focus catcher" control
45:34 - Marlett font can be good for text-based icons
46:50 - Tool tips are laggy and require extended hover to make them appear
46:55 - Custom tools tips respond instantly
47:28 - Anatomy of custom tool tips -- how they work
48:43 - Z-Order of components, label must be on top of image components
49:08 - Custom Tool Tip Text
51:08 - Actual multiplier for tool tip width depends on font choice
53:13 - Use a Windows Timer rather than a form timer to hide tool tipes
57:21 - Custom date picker
59:45 - Anatomy of Date Picker -- how they work
59:50 - Caveat - requires the Date Picker .OCX control
1:01:59 - Setting defaults for custom date picker
1:04:57 - "Wiki" Date Picker for standard date ranges (this week, last week, etc.)
1:06:50 - Modal Forms Ideas
1:12:51 - Popup form border auto adjusts to form size
1:14:08 - Custom icons, e.g. Close icon for forms
1:14:14 - Example of font shading to compartmentalize text in a form
1:15:10 - Soft form rendering -- Fade in and Fade out
1:15:43 - Soft form rendering - Form Opacity
1:16:13 - A better replacement for Record Selectors
1:17:25 - Anatomy of highlighted record selector - how it works
1:18:24 - Use case for standard record selectors - budget restriction
1:18:44 - Add supplemental information on a form -- examples
1:18:52 - Contextualize Icons
1:19:41 - Conditional formatting for "chart legend" appearance in alist
1:20:23 - Prioritize conditional highlighting to ensure roles are properly highlighted
1:20:57 - Using sort icons for continuous view forms
1:21:46 - Supplemental information also responds to filters
1:22:07 - Alerts for tasks and deadline dates using conditional formatting
1:22:28 - Tri-State Check Boxes uses
1:23:06 - Forms resize, but always leave the Windows task bar visible
1:23:18 - Efficient use of limited space with collapsible combo boxes.
1:24:33 - Animations to call attention to important data, soft technique
1:25:00 - To minimize screen flicker, use Navigation forms not tabbed controls
1:26:13 - Designing soft textboxes
1:26:41 - Proper margin padding in text box looks more professional
1:26:49 - Anchoring and form resize to maintain layout and spacing
1:27:24 - Anchor using top right
1:27:46 - Use a sidebar and "green screen" to enable screen sharing with another application
1:29:16 - Side Bar Anatomy - How it works
1:30:22 - Better command buttons -- use the hover effect
1:31:23 - Call to action in your applications Custom Built, not Garage Built