| 2.1 Service Catalogue
20. Layout Design | |
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| 2.1.20 Layout Design: | | Page layout design is continually evolving and what was fit-for-purpose last year will not be adequate for next year. | | Mac OSX Lion and Windows-8 have set a new and improved screen layout standard that will dominate for many years to come. | | The "Start" button and menu system that has remained similar since 1995 will be replaced by Windows-8 with a smart phone like program launch pad. | | 2012 may signal the begining of the end of the PC era as traditional one-per-desk computers are replaced with a plethora of modern smart phone and tablet devices - with touch screens and gestures. IBM have pulled out of PC's, HP have their PC division up for sale and Dell are running flat out to become a cloud service company. |
| Browser: | | The browser is the only user interface program - all programs that were developed for a specific operating system are now a liability waiting to be redeveloped. | | IE9 has just been judged to be the best browser technology in terms of speed and functionality - its real claim to fame is that it sports only 3 icons and no menu. | | The lesson is the very simple user interfaces are hard to design, while a poor user interface is just an accumulation of lots of diverse business requirements. | | For example; where 5 management-information reports can be selected, rather than have 5 icons on the dashboard, one icon may be used and the popup management information page can then select which of the 5 reports are to be shown. A busy page with 5 management-information icons will not be good enough in the longer term - icons will get bigger and a simplified screen design will win though. |
| Apps: | | What was once a program or a computer system has become an "App" that people will use with little concern about operating system, versions, updates, backups, viruses and all the other PC-like issues that will fade away. | | The new generation of "App" will run anywhere on any kind of computing device without the need for expert IT installation and support staff. | | Each "App" is an icon that provides some benefit or amusement - those people that are able to master the more comprehensive "Apps" will become more productive and more valuable in the market - people without "App" experience will be less effective and may be left behind. |
| Design: | | A screen full of icons is the modern desktop - its not how many icons you cram into your screen, its a matter of how effective you are at navigating and exploiting the benefits that the new "Apps" can deliver. | | While icon size has increased from 16 to 32 pixels, screen size has reduced and some very clever design is needed to cram in a lot of functionality, but make it all look simple and easy to use. | | The trend is towards 64 pixel icons and so simplified user interfaces will be needed - users will do a lot of scrolling to find what they are looking for. |
| Methods of Use: | | Each "App" is a set of web pages that have been designed to be used in three different ways. | | 1. Long Page is a means to show a hierarchy of up to 9 different data objects on a single web page. The long page tends to be the easiest to use with the benefit of automatic save facilities. | | 2. Hierarchy of popup web pages is a means to drill down the data object hierarchy one page at a time. The hierarchical drill down method is the most comprehensive means to access all related data. | | 3. Search is a means to search on all data objects from any place in the hierarchy with extra drill down and drill up facilities. The search capabilities are fantastic for the skilled user who fully understands the hierarchical structure of data objects. |
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