I want to separate concerns here. Create and embed all the UI logic for the Custom XML designer, object model, validations etc in to a separate assembly. Then the Package framework should only register the designer information and ask for a UI Service and everything works magically. This way I don't need to play with the Package framewo...
What books do you recommend for a programmer who wants to learn about design? Every programmer needs to evolve and learn things outside of his specialization. I would like to collect a list of the best material in the field of design for such programmers. Some guidelines: I'm interested both in graphic design (use of whitespace, fon...
I am looking into designing new features for Eclipse-based programming tools, from the requirements/ideas perspective. To really do this quickly, I would like to sketch UI elements without having to code things -- my concern is with the concepts and ideas right now, not the possible later realization. Are there any such graphical sketch...
Is it possible to create Selenium tests using the Firefox plugin that use randomly generated values to help do regression tests? The full story: I would like to help my clients do acceptance testing by providing them with a suite of tests that use some smarts to create random (or at least pseudo-random) values for the database. One of t...
Is there any alternative for WPF (windows presentation foundation) in python? http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970268.aspx#Programming_with_WPF ...
I am making the distinction between User Experience and pure User Interface (UI) design here, even though there is usually a tie-in. You can have great user interaction even with a ‘boring’ grey interface, (note that it is not a requirement!). My bookshelf contains the following: The Inmates are running the Asylum Don’t Make Me Think ...
I am using SetCursor to set the system cursor to my own image. The code looks something like this: // member on some class HCURSOR _cursor; // at init time _cursor = LoadCursorFromFile("somefilename.cur"); // in some function SetCursor(_cursor); When I do this the cursor does change, but on the first mouse move message it changes ba...
I'm developing an application for a small display (1.8" diagonal, 128x160). Lots of people must be developing for cell phones, so I'm hoping for pointers to online resources for user interfaces with small displays and limited input. ...
I'm programming an application for a 32 bit processor with limited memory (512k flash, 32k RAM). The display on this device is 128x160 with 16 bit color, which would normally consume 40k ram if I were to buffer it on my processor. I don't have that much RAM, so I'm looking for techniques, tips, tricks, ideas for generating screen data ...
I'd like to use the Wiimote (accelerometers, gyroscopes, infrared camera, etc, etc, etc) on various applications. It's a bluetooth device, and I know others have connected it to their computer. What's the easiest way to start using it in my software - are there libraries for C#, for instance? I want my software to be usable and easil...
I just started using Log Parser Lizard to examine my IIS and Event logs. What UI tool do you use on top of LogParser 2.2 to view your log files on production? ...
Hi, Usually I'm fortunate enough to work with really good designers. They take care of the look and feel for all of the web applications / sites I build. In the past when I've done cheap or free work for people for projects I'm interested in, I've used a template from templatemonster or similar. I want to get involved with quite a la...
A large international company deploys a new web and MOTO (Mail Order and Telephone Order) handling system. Among other things you are tasked to design format for both order and customer identification numbers. What would be the best format in your opinion? Please list any assumptions and considerations. Accepted Answer Michael Haren...
Hi, I heard Microsoft allows use of commercially available Office UI controls, with the exception of competing products, such as a word processor or spreadsheet app, etc. How true is that? Also, if it is not true, do you know of any free Ribbon controls? ...
Often a quick UI evaluation needs to be done without actual users’ involvement. What approach is to take? Is there a framework one could stick to (i.e. principles to look out for, steps to take as part of the evaluation) or is it all haphazard, art based on experience rather than rigid process? ...
I want to place a combobox inside one column of a Xtragrid. I can bind the combobox to array but how do you bind the combox to the column? ...
Im looking for ideas on how to effectively notify users that their input into an editable table is invalid. For example, if one column of a table represents an American zip code and the user enters in the zip code "85rr3" into a cell, how would you notify the user of the issue? ...
I have a webapp which resizes its window to exactly fit its contents: window.resizeTo(200,300) People do like having the page fit its window in this way. However with Firefox the next browser window the user opens comes up at the same size, which is ridiculously small. Is there a way to tell Firefox to resize the current window, but ...
I need to write an application that essentially functions like a week-view of a calendar, columns for the days and then rows for appointments. Where the height of the appointment box visually represents time. In my case, I just don't want the time of day as the vertical axis, I just want hours or mins. The Google AJAX approach is very...
I'm having some minor problems with some animations I'm trying to set up. I have a couple divs stacked on top of each other kind of like this. <div id="div1"> Stuff... </div> <div id="div2"> More Stuff... </div> Each of these divs has a drop shadow applied to it via jQuery plugin (jquery.dropshadow.js). The problem occurs when...