the Microsoft desktop Operating System family.
2
votes
1answer
79 views
How to display NumPad keys to user
We are trying to map how a user will see key presses for custom hotkeys. However, there is some debate which I cannot find a standard for:
How to display the number pad keys:
num1, num2, numPLUS, ...
6
votes
3answers
95 views
When is the best time to deploy operating system updates?
Related to this question, it was proposed in the comments that it frustrates the user even more when when they go to shutdown their workstation and it takes forever to install updates. However, it's a ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
What is an effective way to present System Update Progress to a user that also lowers frustration?
I am working on an app that starts installing any pending updates when a user logs off the (Windows) workstation. The finished app will look like this (minus 'button1'):
Our branding is in the ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
Keyboard navigation of editable fields skipping other controls
I've been browsing StackExchange, the MS UX guidelines, etc and have yet to find an answer, or even a suggestion about this.
In a Windows environment, Tab usually moves focus from control to ...
0
votes
2answers
58 views
How can I view my screen design on an iOS device as I work in Photoshop under Windows? [closed]
I know there are quite a few apps that accomplish this very well under OS X. I personally own and love xScope, but at work we are forced to make do with Windows 7.
1
vote
0answers
49 views
Why does scrolling when dragging an element scroll faster on mouse wiggle? [closed]
I don't know about other operating systems, but this is very prolific in Windows.
Let's say you have a scrollable container that items can be dragged onto. You want to drag an item onto the part of ...
8
votes
4answers
156 views
Why did older Windows installs delay before automatic restart?
Every time I need to install an older copy of Windows (today it's Server 2003 Enterprise), I run into the screen where the initial install phase completes and my machine needs to reboot.
The ...
6
votes
3answers
170 views
Should we use Microsoft's feature names, or our own? “Autofilter” vs “Column filter”
Many Microsoft softwares, like the Office suite and the Windows Explorer, feature a type of column filter that they have dubbed the Autofilter.
It filters rows based on column content.
It adapts the ...
4
votes
2answers
92 views
position-based application switching in traditional window managers
I have a related question on SU that is asking for any tools which apply this concept:
Suppose that I've got a perfectly reasonable set of two terminal windows, two web browsers, and one email ...
14
votes
6answers
302 views
Delay on keystroke when search as you type
I'm deploying an instant search on my windows app. At the first implementation, when the user type a key, the search engine make a query and return the results. I thought that that wasn't too much ...
4
votes
4answers
189 views
Which button should get the focus at delete dialogs?
I thought that most destructive actions should be avoided from default actions. But when a delete dialog comes, I see that most Windows applications (even the OS), by default, set the focus at ...
1
vote
0answers
85 views
User interface design [closed]
I am writing an application in C# using Visual Studio and need my UI like this:
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|Action1 Action2 ... ActionN | Toolbox | ...
15
votes
2answers
452 views
What happened to “What's this?” help?
"What's this?" help or context-sensitive help* used to be commonplace in Windows applications a few years ago. Dialog windows had an additional "?" button in the top right, that when clicked, gave you ...
134
votes
14answers
16k views
Do people really want to look at multiple windows at once?
I'm referring to Jakob Nielsen's alertbox from November 19, 2012. He complains about the lack of windows in Windows 8:
Lack of Multiple Windows = Memory Overload for Complex Tasks
One of the ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
Custom Sort Tabs in Windows (7) [closed]
When viewing a folder and its contents windows users have been able to sort in logical orders by clicking the tabs above the files and their information. Tabs such as name, date modified, and type of ...
2
votes
2answers
67 views
Open the folder vs show in explorer?
In Windows, when a program offers to locate a file for you, it typically does so by opening an Explorer window pointing at the containing folder with the specific file highlighted. This gives you ...
6
votes
1answer
167 views
Alert window, navigating to the right button
Working on both Windows and OSX, I have some habits on both.
In alert dialogs, there is a huge usability variance between both operating systems.
In the latter, you can either tap enter and have the ...
18
votes
7answers
1k views
Should yes/no dialogs also have a cancel?
I remember once reading an article that said whenever you present a messagebox with a Yes/No choice, you should always also provide a Cancel button, even if it does the same as No.
The rationale was ...
3
votes
3answers
171 views
When to show a Selection Column in a data grid
I have a windows based desktop LOB application. In a multi step process a user is requested to select a SINGLE row on a datagrid. My question is? should or shouldnt I use a selection column to ...
1
vote
1answer
167 views
Web-safe fonts: do Apple devices ship with Arial?
Currently my font stack is "HelveticaNeue-Light","Helvetica Neue Light","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif. The issue I'm having is that some of my images/buttons with text ...
2
votes
1answer
122 views
How do I guide users to use the Windows program necessary for my Android app?
I have published a small Android App. It is a Remote Control for PowerPoint. The Software itself would work just fine, however I have a few small issues with my users. As you can imagine, a user has ...
4
votes
1answer
336 views
Does Metro scale?
This question has bugged me for a while, I thought I might ask it.
In software, we say something "scales" if it's able to stay coherent and consistent over a long period of time, but more ...
52
votes
5answers
11k views
Why did Microsoft make Windows 8 hard to Power Off?
I’ve been using Windows 8 for a couple of weeks and am certain the new operating system will work great on tablet (i.e. Microsoft Surface). On PC some say the best tile is the desktop tile, where you ...
6
votes
1answer
187 views
Why is HideSelection the default on Windows?
I've always wondered why Windows controls have their HideSelection property set to true by default?
Example (TreeView): ...
1
vote
0answers
245 views
Windows Forms Best Practices [closed]
What are the best practices for enhancing the user-experience on forms on Windows, including usability, efficiency, design and effectiveness, and would you suggest that the operating environment of a ...
2
votes
2answers
182 views
List Selection mechanisms - OK to mix?
I have a window with multiple tabpages. On one tab, I have a set of controls designed to allow the user to "include" or "exclude" any of a set of pre-defined items from some consideration. You've seen ...
7
votes
2answers
362 views
Inactive State of buttons, to hide or not to hide…that is the question
On a windows based LOB application for data capturing. Is it better to hide a button completely when it is inactive, or simply show a disabled state for the button.
6
votes
2answers
309 views
What is the purpose behind mouse acceleration?
Windows XP enables it by default, I don't know about vista or 7, in Mac OS X you have to buy a shareware to remove both mouse acceleration AND accelerated scrolling.
Why are those things always ...
3
votes
1answer
331 views
How can the Copy and Replace message box be improved?
I have a program (running on Windows) that I am developing that has a file and folder page as part of it that is effectively copying the Windows format. I allow users to copy, cut, paste, delete and ...
1
vote
1answer
80 views
Why does in-line Label Edit in Windows Explorer have a delay?
When you open Windows Explorer, then select some file or folder, then click its file name, an inline label-edit will be invoked. But there is an intentional delay before the textbox is displayed. Why?
...
3
votes
3answers
143 views
Why could “installing updates” not be listed as a distinct system restart reason in Windows Server?
When I install updates on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 it often requires a system restart upon completion. When I use "Start"->"Restart" the dialog prompts me for a reason for the system ...
7
votes
1answer
195 views
Applicability of Fitts law in expert user scenarios
Fitts law states that "the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target.".
Simply put, if user is about to click/tap/press a ...
5
votes
3answers
321 views
Is it good UX that in Windows 7 & 8 the “windows” of the same application are automatically grouped into one button?
In Windows 7 and 8, all the windows of every application are by default automatically grouped into one icon on the taskbar. This happens even when there are two instances of the application running ...
2
votes
2answers
134 views
Generate a list of resolutions for a new window
My program is a wrapper for Remote Desktop Connection which generates a ".rdp" file and launches the file through the normal program. I am trying to mimic Remote Desktop Connection's resolution slider ...
5
votes
1answer
252 views
Why would number lock be disabled by default?
There was a time that number lock was enabled by default (at least in a Windows environment). Then, after an update one day, all the sudden the Number Lock is disabled. Why the change? What is it ...
8
votes
5answers
487 views
Are double tabs on the same level acceptable?
In my Windows application, I want to show the user some kind of map. The information displayed on this map can vary a lot, depending on filters set by the user. With these filters set, the user will ...
7
votes
2answers
236 views
UI suggestion: Where to place MoveUp/Down buttons
It is ugly but I can't find a better place to put Move-up and Down buttons. What is your suggestion?
Note: the ORDER of the items inside the spreadsheet is important to user and we save it. These ...
2
votes
1answer
231 views
Should a FolderBrowserDialog be used over an OpenFolderDialog?
In developing applications where I need the user to select a folder, I've always favored the OpenFolderDialog because:
It looks like an OpenFileDialog
Allows the user to jump directly to the path ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
Display “Day entities” that contain Stuff, by day and by period
I have something like Things that happened this day that can be either of TypeA or TypeB.
I want to display Day items per period and also display inside each Day item some info about its TypeA's and ...
2
votes
1answer
163 views
Folder picker: Some users want to preview contents of the folder but others find this confusing
In our Silverlight application we have a wizard that gives the users the ability to browse to a specific folder on the server and in a subsequent step select the specific files that they wish to ...
18
votes
2answers
775 views
Is there a visual glossary of (Windows) UI controls?
Some days it seems every member of my team calls each control by a different name. Is there a good resource, preferably with images, for what the official name of each control type is? I found a few ...
9
votes
4answers
341 views
Is it still preferred/acceptable to right-align the Help menu in Windows applications?
Back when I first learned Windows GUI programming, it seemed very common to right-align the Help menu in applications.
It seems this is no longer the norm in all of the Windows applications I ...
7
votes
1answer
168 views
Should filtering of data have an effect on the filter criteria as well?
My quesion is about filtering of data in a Windows desktop application.
I have a large amount of data coming from a database (> 900.000 records). The records are shown in a classic listcontrol (rows ...
21
votes
5answers
12k views
Is there a Windows 8 desktop UI Guideline or HIG anywhere in the world?
And I don't mean Win 7 / Metro UI guidelines, I have them up the wazoo, but I've changed jobs and need to start looking at the new Windows 8 DESKTOP design. I know it takes a lot of cues from Metro on ...
3
votes
3answers
417 views
How to display a countdown timer?
I'm making a Pomodoro Timer to apply the Pomodoro Technique to my work. I need to display a countdown timer (count 25 minutes). Within 25 minutes I need to focus on my current task and try my best to ...
16
votes
4answers
1k views
Good alternatives for replacing multiple nested modal dialogs?
Having a mature and good-selling Windows desktop application, we are focusing on improving the user experience for the next release.
One thing that I try is to get rid of multiple nested modal dialog ...
40
votes
6answers
2k views
Should I provide feedback from a save button?
I'm currently in the process of developing a Windows Application which produces Word Documents.
In the program there is the ability to save your progress (different to the "Save as a Word Document" ...
10
votes
2answers
10k views
Windows 8 Metro Design Examples / Guidelines [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Where can I find style guide for metro UI for web applications?
Not a technical question about how to build an app (I'm just going to use DevExpress Tiles, mostly ...
5
votes
1answer
194 views
Any recommendations on dealing with wizard screens with wildly different amounts of content?
I'm facing an issue with a wizard import system. The content of each screen in the wizard varies to the tune of creating white spaces as big as 300px by 300px. A stakeholder thinks this is too much ...
2
votes
2answers
130 views
adding/removing/searching thousands of data
I have 2 tables : a contract table and a part table.
every contract has thousands of parts.
The user can select a contract and I display the thousands of related parts to the user using paging.
...
