Importance of a GUI
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:09 pm
In any software being a game or not, a GUI is a fundamental part of it. Many developers don't like to spend time or enough time on it, because they either don't know how to improve it, don't have the taste for a nice GUI or wrongly under estimate its importance.
A GUI is what can make or kill any software (interactive software that's it). Why? Simply because that's what the user will have to use to interact with the software. So being simple, yet powerful is a must. Another good thing to keep in mind is keep an interface as users already know. For example, scroll-bars are well known things, therefore don't try to re-invent the wheel and make something different unless there is very good reasons for it.
Also think about creating tools to make life easier not "funny" or "cool". Making your GUI resize is also useful, as even if may look like nice or good on your screen, nearly everyone will use a different window size. Forget about "standard resolutions", here really everyone works differently, so make it resize.
Try to make good usage of the space without cluttering your screen with thousand of buttons. It is not user friendly, and will slow down the usage of your tool.
Finally don't post pone the GUI improvements thinking you have more important things to do. Nothing is more important than having an usable software.
Now don't think I consider my own GUIs perfect, I actually more with the opinion of never being happy with my GUI, and always trying to improve them. Example? My admin tools inside cubicverse are displayed in a sliding panel, however for some of those like the NPC editing, it can be a mess. Therefore I added a resize button which makes the panel uses the whole browser window. Is it enough? no, but it helps.
A GUI is what can make or kill any software (interactive software that's it). Why? Simply because that's what the user will have to use to interact with the software. So being simple, yet powerful is a must. Another good thing to keep in mind is keep an interface as users already know. For example, scroll-bars are well known things, therefore don't try to re-invent the wheel and make something different unless there is very good reasons for it.
Also think about creating tools to make life easier not "funny" or "cool". Making your GUI resize is also useful, as even if may look like nice or good on your screen, nearly everyone will use a different window size. Forget about "standard resolutions", here really everyone works differently, so make it resize.
Try to make good usage of the space without cluttering your screen with thousand of buttons. It is not user friendly, and will slow down the usage of your tool.
Finally don't post pone the GUI improvements thinking you have more important things to do. Nothing is more important than having an usable software.
Now don't think I consider my own GUIs perfect, I actually more with the opinion of never being happy with my GUI, and always trying to improve them. Example? My admin tools inside cubicverse are displayed in a sliding panel, however for some of those like the NPC editing, it can be a mess. Therefore I added a resize button which makes the panel uses the whole browser window. Is it enough? no, but it helps.