Custom User Interface Development with Microsoft Office

Introduction

Why?

Your customers develop their perceptions about the quality of your application primarily through the user interface (UI).

A bad UI can destroy a good application, but the converse is not necessarily true. (A good UI can save a bad application.)

UI Design Myths

If it looks good to the developer it will look good to the customer.

Good programmers are good UI designers.

Your customers will know a good UI when they see it.

UI Design Review

Understanding the Business Problem

Completely understanding the business problem your customer is trying to solve is the most important aspect of good UI design.

Metaphor

Base your UI paradigm on the customer's business.

Make the first 90 percent of the work the customer does in your UI easy and the last 10 percent possible.

Give the customers alternative ways to accomplish a task.

Make complex functions simple by hiding the work involved.

Proximity

The strongest way people relate objects is through proximity.

Unaligned objects tend to make customers uneasy and confused.

Eye Flow

The eye needs to be directed towards important objects on the screen.

Office as UI

Windows 95
VBA
Document-centric

The main applications in Office (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) are designed to create documents.

An Office-based application should have the same focus.

Decision Support
Compound Report
Legal/Government Document/Permit/License

Container

Select one Office application as the container.

Decision Support—Excel
Document Generation—Word

Common Office UI Objects

Forms designers

Compare the Form design tool in each Office application.

Discuss the nuances of each when it is used as the container for the application.

Objects

Compare the editing and display objects in each Office application.

Discuss when to use each object in the UI.

Unique Office UI Objects

UI objects unique to each Office application

Excel—Worksheets, Pivot Tables
Word—Documents, Formatting
Powerpoint—Drawing, Animation Effects

Make appropriate use of these unique objects

Bringing It All Together

Integrate the UI.