See this form:


It looks really ugly. The textboxes are for locating map files, and at the right, I show little pictures of the files, and some info (as bound coordinates).

I really don't like it. It is UGLY.

The problem, is, I would like to contain the maps on each usercontrol (here are two, one for each class of maps), so I can manage a variable number of maps with one usercontrol, and keep the code simple.
but the union of the little pictures and usercontrol textboxes clearly does not look right.

There are some guidelines on how to design forms? (or some tip on how to fix this)

Hi Guillermo,

As in my opinion, a good User Interface should be fullfill the following characters:

1. The User Interface should be Layout well and grouped with job responsibilities.
2. Each element in the User Interface should have an exact textual description of the job .
3. Expose the users with userful informations.
4. Import good mechanisms to make sure the user input right.
5. Give clues to the users what they can do with each UI element and how as necessary.
6. Controls are colored appropriately.


Besides, I think you can learn from the off-the-shelf softwares. Such as Office serials. Of course, if you want to look for textual information about User Interface design tips, you can also search from the internet by keyword "UI design tips", a lot of related articles will be

Here're two articles I've got by a simple search.

http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/fog0000000249.html

If you decide to search, I am sure you will get more hits.

If you have any problem, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,
Bruce Zhou

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Please mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark if they don't.

Hi Guillermo,

As in my opinion, a good User Interface should be fullfill the following characters:

1. The User Interface should be Layout well and grouped with job responsibilities.
2. Each element in the User Interface should have an exact textual description of the job .
3. Expose the users with userful informations.
4. Import good mechanisms to make sure the user input right.
5. Give clues to the users what they can do with each UI element and how as necessary.
6. Controls are colored appropriately.


Besides, I think you can learn from the off-the-shelf softwares. Such as Office serials. Of course, if you want to look for textual information about User Interface design tips, you can also search from the internet by keyword "UI design tips", a lot of related articles will be

Here're two articles I've got by a simple search.

http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/userInterfaceDesign.html
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/fog0000000249.html

If you decide to search, I am sure you will get more hits.

If you have any problem, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,
Bruce Zhou

---

Please mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark if they don't.

Thanks.

I where hoping that this was a common GUI problem, so i asked in the VB forum.

You suggestion is useful because my native language is not english, and sometimes I don't know the right keys to query google.