Results - Interface

01 Jun 1996 updated

See also Interface section of the web presentation.

These points discuss PowerDesigner's presentation to users and their access to its features. Most users find PowerDesigner extremely easy at the start, due in part to the very streamlined number of essential objects, tools, and dialogs. However many users experience a substantial slowdown in the learning curve as they attempt more sophisticated design tasks.

  1. Be much more consistent internally from feature to feature and from module to module.
  2. As much as practical, be consistent with external standards (e.g., PowerBuilder, the Microsoft GUI style guide) for menus, dialogs, GUI controls such as radio and check groups, edit field controls, and all other user presentation details.
  3. Reduce feature redundancies (e.g., zoom with tool box icons, zoom with tool bar icons, zoom with F keys, zoom from the main menu) or allow them to be suppressed with user preferences (see below).
  4. Bubble help on all icons (tool box/tool bars) is a must.
  5. Improve message box texts (e.g., for Dictionary/Sub-Model/Update graphics), which are often confusing or incomplete.
  6. Provide non-modal dialogs and lists to allow, for example, viewing a context while editing a detail.
  7. Generalize the Find feature to provide it for overy object type and accross sub-models.
  8. Add in-place eding of text properties of praphic objects such as entity and attribute names.
  9. Provide a zoom control for every text edit field (or at least for those such as name where the entire text is not visible) to show the complete text in a larger single field dialog.
  10. Expand User Preferences to include such items as preserve model scale and printer setup, suppress selected features.

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