Book Recommendation for Winforms Design & Programming

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+3 Q:

Book Recommendation for Winforms Design & Programming

I'm looking for a book or a good resource about the following subjects :

Best Practices on Windows Forms design (such best way to design GUIs -using anchors-, using default fonts, avoiding changing colours etc.)
Advice about common GUI pitfalls (usability, accessibility, compatibility)

Basically I've got a WinForms application and I keep having issues such as :

DPI changes causes problems in the GUI
Webbrowser Control steals the focus
Ctrl + A doesn't work on textboxes
Icon looks like crap in Windows Vista
etc.

As far as I find these glitches I'm trying to fix them, but obviously a book or such a resource on the subject would be great.

+5 A:

.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell by O'Reilly And Associates is a good choice.

For standard UI design guidelines, refer to Microsoft's page on Design Guidelines.

JoelOnSoftware also has a post on UI Design.

George Stocker 2008-12-10 20:47:08

+1 A:

Searching Amazon for a given topic and sorting the results by "Average Customer Review" is the way to go. I'd rather take the advice of 10/50/100 developers than 1 random guy's advice.

Unfortunately it seems you get a lot of off subject .NET books when you search for "Winform" but it's still worth checking out.

TravisO 2008-12-10 20:55:12

I suggested that book because I used it when I was dealing with my first Winforms app.

George Stocker 2008-12-10 20:57:31

Actually I wasn't talking about you at all, my reply was very generic, I would have written the same thing if I was the first poster, your suggestion is actually a good one.

TravisO 2008-12-10 21:03:34

I even voted your answer up, I'd like to think we both gave a good answer, but they're good for entirely different reasons: yours because it's a good book, mine because I wanted to point out book suggestions are the opinion of that 1 person.

TravisO 2008-12-10 21:06:32

Yea, I have to wait a few hours before I can vote yours up, I used all of mine today.

George Stocker 2008-12-10 21:09:37

Windows Forms 2.0 Programming is my Winforms book of choice

David Hill 2008-12-10 20:56:42

Thanks for the answers, however the problem with most of these books (also books based on amazon searches) talks about Programming aspect of the Windows Forms.

On the other hand, I'm after UI design gotchas in WinForms. Maybe one of those books include that as well, that's why I asked the question instead of grabbing most popular book from the Amazon.

dr. evil 2008-12-10 21:04:37

"Gotchas" how? Typical things not to do when designing a UI? Or ways that Winforms can bomb? If the latter, the "In a Nutshell" book explains that well, if the former, there are a myriad of links and books I could send your way.

George Stocker 2008-12-10 21:14:44

latter, thanks for the recommendation I'll check it.

dr. evil 2008-12-10 21:25:11

Yup. When I get a chance to sit down at home, I'll edit my answer to include better answers to the individual questions you posted.

George Stocker 2008-12-10 21:29:08

I've solved most of the individual questions I've asked, however DPI still remains. (I know the solution just need to do a bit more research and re-design the GUI).

dr. evil 2008-12-10 21:35:16

As an aside, I've always been intrigued by how Apple designs UIs. If you want simple yet effective, take a gander at what they do.

George Stocker 2008-12-10 21:45:36

If you really wanted to thank the group, then choose your favorite answer, too many users ask a question and never pick an answer.

TravisO 2008-12-10 23:00:01

I do choose an answer all the time, I just take my time so more people can give answers. Because even though answers were OK still there is no really good answer.

dr. evil 2008-12-11 00:00:30

As far as pitfalls you can try GUI Bloppers

Other books I have helpful is Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# and User Interfaces in C#: Windows Forms and Custom Controls

KMessenger 2008-12-11 00:35:17

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Book Recommendation for Winforms Design & Programming

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