ACDC wrote
very nice design , love the theme and the simplicity
I note the use of opening an object in a new tab is not used here thereby achieving UI simplicity. I have wanted to do this but I am stuck in the concept that opening new tabs to allow a user to switch between tabs, rather than have to close the form and reload data is more efficient but not so pretty.
Any thoughts on having such a design with an option feature button of breaking out into a new tab at any stage. So if a user wants to compare objects outside of the normal routine or for that matter run a query to check on something , it can be done easily enough without having to go backwards and forwards reloading data and forms.
My 2 cents. I more often than not use the same approach as John i.e a "single page" layout or whatever you want to call it where I have 1 main layout the user works on at a time and I don´t use tabs and sure using tabs is better performance wise but to be honest, when you really look at it for most apps, I would say the performance load you would gain is very small (not something I have hard data for though and I have not tested it using performance tools etc.). It´s very rare the user goes back and forth between layouts just for the hell of it, they usually open up a layout and work on it (opening popups and manipulating data on the content panels in the layout etc. etc.). The only exception is when a user needs to compare things but 2 things to think about, 1) how often does a user really do that? , 2) the user does whatever you "direct" them to and allow in the app i.e if you don´t use tabs, the user adapts to that and works with what´s available. I know UX guys might not like that last no 2 point 🙂 but IMO you need to balance UX with all other things like UI, system design etc. etc..
For most apps, the user is working on 1 thing at a time and if the user needs to compare things, they can do that in a number of ways. First of all, in most designs it is possible to use the Aware VP tabs, just add some fancy CSS and you can incorporate it into any design IF you really need tabs that is. For the comparing thing, you could also for example open up a popup where you then use Aware tabs OR create you own tabs (plain HTML/CSS tabs which then via a custom solution "save"/keep track of the content of each tab and when the user clicks a tab, a layout is opened up) OR you could also like John suggests be creative and do some fancy, smart solution. I would however advise you to really think about which part of the app REALLY needs this and what the performance load gain would be.
If you look at most designs in the screenshot gallery here you see the same thing and the main app I have most screenshots of (Fokalpoint) is a good example of the single page layout for a very complex application with a lot of modules and stuff in it:
https://www.awareim.com/forum/post/47238
NB: This doesn´t mean you shouldn´t optimize your app for performance etc. and I am sure John does this as well. There are A LOT of small things here and there, internally in Aware and also in the frontend where you can tweak thinks to optimize performance, load etc.. It´s a holistic thing usually unique for each app.
