gui-design

Guidelines for GUI design for a risk analysis app

In my free time, I'm working on a risk analysis application. I have already finished the mathematical and simulation engines, but I'm stuck with the design of the user interface. I want my application to be as easy-to-use as possible for Excel users, but I don't want to make it an Excel add-in, because Excel takes ages to load add-ins. S...

Java: MiGLayout: How to use `hidemode`?

Hi, I am starting out using MiGLayout for my GUI design, and one of the feature I would need is to show/hide certain components based on the state of other components. I was going to code this myself, when I noticed that one of the Component Constraints supported by MiGLayoutis hidemode. Does this do what I think it does? If so, how d...

How to indicate that a column in a table is sortable (UI design question)?

In the application that I am working on, there is tabular data (for the record, it is a Java Swing app using JTables). In some cases the data is sortable by clicking on the column headers. What I want to know is what is a good way to indicate to the user if a given column is sortable or not? I have come up with the following possibiliti...

UI Design Help / Advice

Hey everyone, I have a dillema where our client relations department has been brought in for advice on UI and I vehemently disagree with it...even though I don't consider myself a designer at all. While I have been vocal about my disagreement about it, I've been asked to point to design standards to prove that what I'm saying is correc...

Displaying form errors with HTML5's new input types

Hello, Currently, HTML5's new input types, <input type="number"...> <input type="email"...> <input type="url"...> simply focus on any offending text-boxes with mismatching user input upon form submission. Problem: Focusing is fine. However it's a very subtle way of telling the user why the form is not submitting. Which of these is...