Chapter 4 -- Establish a Consistent User Interface Style

Chapter 4

While the standards for Microsoft Windows user interfaces described in Chapter 1 provide many specific rules and guidelines, there is still enough flexibility within the standards to create an endless variety of user interface designs. Of course, this flexibility is desirable because it gives you the ability to create user interfaces that satisfy practically any design objectives and that take advantage of any new user interface technology. Rigid standards that impede progress by requiring a user interface style that was popular at a specific moment in time wouldn't have much of a following.

While it might be desirable to take advantage of this flexibility by design, it isn't such a good idea to do so by accident. All the user interface elements in a program should have a certain consistency. At the very least, all the windows, dialog boxes, menus, and graphics in a program should look as if they were designed by the same person, even if they were designed by several people. For example, you shouldn't be able to look at a dialog box and figure out which programmer created it. Such consistency helps the user by making the user interface elements easier to recognize and understand. Furthermore, when all the programs developed by a company have a consistent appearance and behavior, the company's image is enhanced by the presentation of a uniform and recognizable appearance in the marketplace. And, when it comes to future development, it also makes it easier for the company to leverage user interface designs and code. Clearly, any organization needs to go beyond the standards and create companywide or projectwide user interface style guidelines to give its software a consistent appearance and behavior. This is especially true for companies developing software for multimedia programs, Web sites, games, and children's programs, which tend not to use the standard windows and controls. In such cases, the standards are somewhat less relevant.