:: CODE Magazine ::

	*Category: UI Design*
	38 Articles found and displayed in this view. Five Ways to Advance Your User Interface Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2013 May/Jun Release Date: Saturday, April 06, 2013 Quick ID: 1305091 Software applications have a lifespan. Some, like utility applications that do nothing more than patch an existing application to fix a bug, are quite short. Others, like games, live only slightly longer. Then there are those applications that live on for decades, such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop. Internal business applications that are used to automate and track processes often have long lifespans as well. As developers, we add to or adjust the application’s user interface to account for new features, but rarely do we reconsider the interface as a whole. Why? Likely because we get used to the original user interface we created and don’t see any reason to change it. But complacency is generally not viewed as a virtue. Chapter 7 from Murach’s JavaScript and jQuery. Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Monday, February 04, 2013 Quick ID: 1301013 Now that you have the JavaScript skills that you need for using jQuery, you’re ready to learn jQuery. So, in chapter 7, you’ll learn a working subset of jQuery that will get you off to a fast start. And in chapter 8, you’ll learn how to use the jQuery effects and animations that can bring a web page to life. Getting Rid of Your Code Behind Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2012 Jul/Aug Release Date: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Quick ID: 1208031 You know you should be moving code out from behind your forms, windows and web pages and into stand-alone classes. Everyone preaches that this is what to do, everyone shows you examples of ViewModel classes, but no one really shows you a real-world example of how to get rid of the code behind. Intro to Metro Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2012 Jul/Aug Release Date: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Quick ID: 1208061 Ten years after the release of the .NET Framework, Microsoft is stirring the pot again with a new development platform that set’s to focus your talents on what everyone is betting is the next big thing, mobile devices; specifically in this case, tablets. The Windows Runtime, or WinRT, is the foundation for the development of applications designed to target Windows 8-driven touch-enabled devices, but what does that mean for .NET developers and their existing skill sets? Windows Phone 7 Development Using MVVM and Unit Testing Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2012 Jan/Feb Release Date: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 Quick ID: 1201081 As readers of this magazine, you are all experts at certain facets of software development, be it for the desktop, the web, SQL Server and now mobile platforms. Mobile programming was a fairly arcane development arena up until the recent announcement of Windows Phone 7 (WP7). Prior to WP7, you had to become intimately familiar with the myriad platforms and form factors available and write your programs to each of those phones. With the advent of WP7, Microsoft is now controlling the hardware capabilities of the phone making it much easier to develop for these platforms. You can now also leverage existing skills in Silverlight and XNA to write your apps. But the question always remains: how do I get started and what is the best way to write for the new WP7? In a previous article, CODE Magazine Jan/Feb 2011, I showed you what to do to get started; now I want to show you the best way to apply what you have learned in that article. I will use Silverlight, the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern, and Silverlight Unit testing to build a sample app. 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume I: Developing Apps 1-50- Chapter 2 Flashlight - Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Quick ID: 1109113 This excerpt is from the new book, ‘101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume I: Developing Apps 1-50’, authored by Adam Nathan, published April 2011, ISBN 0672335522, Copyright 2011. For more info, please visit the publisher site http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672335522 Six Silverlight ListBox Tips Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2011 Jul/Aug Release Date: Sunday, July 03, 2011 Quick ID: 1108081 The Silverlight ListBox is much more than you may think. When most people think of a ListBox they typically think of just a simple control that displays rows of text. However, the Silverlight ListBox is one of the most flexible controls you will find. I tend to think of the ListBox as similar to the ASP.NET Repeater control as it too is very flexible. In this article, I will show you six different ways to display data in a Silverlight ListBox. Chapter 1- Why WPF, and What About Silverlight Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 Quick ID: 100173 Adam Nathan explains how WPF 4 and Windows 7 are bringing multi-touch to the masses. Chapter 1 - Microsoft Expression Blend Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Monday, February 01, 2010 Quick ID: 100033 Taking aside the technical aspects of learning how to use Microsoft Expression Blend, there are many areas that are often disregarded within discussions about how Blend is-and should be-used in a real-world project sense. You may be a single person business or employee that needs to fill all the roles that Blend is best used for; or, you may be part of an enterprise size team. WPF Control Development Unleashed: Building Advanced User Experiences Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Monday, January 25, 2010 Quick ID: 100023 WPF Control Development Unleashed: Building Advanced User Experiences Chapter 2 The Diverse Visual Class Structure In the first chapter, we talked about how the construction of a framework like WPF is much like the construction of a house. If you don’t know why certain things are built the way they are, you are likely to use them improperly and break something. Post Mortem: WPF and Silverlight Styling Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2009 Jul/Aug Release Date: Friday, June 26, 2009 Quick ID: 0907081 The State of WPF & Silverlight Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2009 Jul/Aug Release Date: Friday, June 26, 2009 Quick ID: 0907161 Markus Egger discusses the current State of WPF and Silverlight and the overall importance and acceptance of these technologies. Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours (Windows Presentation Foundation) (Ch.1 ) Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Friday, March 13, 2009 Quick ID: 090013 Creating UI Automation Client Applications Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810122 Sometimes an application needs to interact with the user interface (UI) of a second application.The first application might be a test application that drives the UI of the target to run through some automated tests. It might describe the UI out loud, as an aid to users that are blind. It might be a speech application that allows users to give vocal commands. In each of these cases, the application needs a way to inspect and interact with the UI of the system and other running applications. Windows Automation API 3.0 Overview Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810042 While general accessibility requirements (such as font colors in UI rendering) are important, programmatic access to the graphical user interface (GUI) is a crucial element to improving accessibility.On the Windows® operating system, Microsoft® Active Accessibility® and User Interface (UI) Automation support this programmatic access. This article provides a quick overview of Windows Automation API 3.0 featured in Windows 7.While general accessibility requirements (such as font colors in UI rendering) are important, programmatic access to the graphical user interface (GUI) is a crucial element to improving accessibility.On the Windows® operating system, Microsoft® Active Accessibility® and User Interface (UI) Automation support this programmatic access. This article provides a quick overview of Windows Automation API 3.0 featured in Windows 7. Open Accessibility Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810022 Creating a natural user interface requires designers, testers, and developers working in concert to develop the right support that makes multi-modal access to an operating system and applications possible.To assist in this work through the Accessibility Interoperability Alliance (AIA), Microsoft® released its UI Automation Specifications with a Community Promise and released testing tools as open source projects via CodePlex. Microsoft is committed to interoperable accessibility. Accessibility 101 Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810032 We know what you’re thinking: Why should I read an article about the fundamentals of accessibility?Well, if you already know the percentage of computer users who have disabilities, can name at least ten different categories of assistive technologies, and can describe the key concepts involved in designing an accessible application, then you can probably skip to the next article. However, if you’re unsure what accessible technology is, then take a few minutes and keep reading. You’ll learn about the main concepts around accessible technology, the people they help, and things you can do to help them interact smoothly and successfully with each other. Writing a UI Automation Provider for a Win32-based Custom Control Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810112 Do you have a complex custom control that you want to make programmatically accessible, but you aren’t sure how? Custom controls, by their nature, tend to be very diverse: each is typically written for a specific purpose, making it difficult to generalize implementation details. How do you know what to implement? You should consider supporting accessibility for any custom control that performs its own rendering and input management-routing mouse and keyboard input-within the HWND that it owns. What’s New in Windows 7 Automation API Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810052 Windows® 7 offers end-to-end accessibility with better performance, seamless interoperability, and improved framework design. Creating Accessibility-aware Silverlight 2 Content Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810062 If you haven't heard, accessibility is one of the most important aspects of a Web site experience.By using the accessibility features in Silverlight™ 2, you can provide the best experience for all users. Building a rich Internet experience can be a daunting task when you have to balance a cool visual design with usability. Making Custom Controls Accessible Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810072 While custom controls are introduced every day, not all of them are easily accessible.This article provides a quick summary of Microsoft® technologies that help make Win32-based custom controls programmatically accessible. Techniques range from implementing UI Automation, to creating or overriding properties with Dynamic Annotation, to using the new IAccessibleEx interface to close the gap between UI Automation and Microsoft Active Accessibility®. Microsoft Accessibility Testing Tools vs. the Ten-ton Gorilla of Accessibility Guidelines Compliance Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 4 - Windows Accessibility Focus Release Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0810082 Close your eyes, ignore your mouse, navigate with your keyboard, and rely on your ears alone. Now try to use an application you’ve built or tested. Can you?The few informal tests described in this article can expose a plethora of usability and accessibility shortcomings, oversights, and other issues in your application. But how do you test, assess, and rectify them? Virtual Earth-What's New in the Latest Release Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2008 - Vol. 5 - Issue 2 - Windows Live Release Date: Sunday, March 02, 2008 Quick ID: 0804042 Now in its sixth major release, Virtual Earth offers an entire world of opportunities for innovative Web-based mapping.Microsoft’s premier Web-based mapping solution has undergone upgrades to it user interface, compatibility, and functionality making it an ideal time to get started with the platform or upgrade your existing application. Let’s explore what’s new and what has changed in this latest release. WPF Meets the iPhone Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2008 Mar/Apr Release Date: Thursday, February 28, 2008 Quick ID: 0803061 The iPhone is one of the most compelling and exciting user interfaces to appear on any consumer electronic device, with many innovations that make it a pleasure to use. How can you deliver a similar experience with your .NET applications?This article demonstrates how you can implement these features in your .NET applications in a step-by-step format as you recreate the iPhone interface using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) technology with both Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft Expression Blend. A Silverlight to Illuminate the Path Ahead… Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, The Web View Release Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 Quick ID: 070143 At Mix 2007 in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced Silverlight (formerly known as WPF/E) to much fanfare. Silverlight is very intriguing in concept, as it further travels the path previously laid out by WPF (Silverlight’s big brother), and it aims to bring the worlds of Windows and Web development, as well as the worlds of software development and graphical design, much closer together. As more and more details emerge (and the first released version is now available), it becomes clear that Silverlight is not just an intriguing concept, but it is for real! Markus discusses Silverlight concepts in this article. Create a Custom DataGridView Column Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2007 - Jul/Aug Release Date: Friday, June 29, 2007 Quick ID: 0707061 Creating custom column types for the DataGridView control isn’t nearly as tricky as it once was.In this article, you’ll learn how to take advantage of inheritance to create your own bar graph column in a grid cell. Adding Smart Tags to Windows Forms Controls Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2007 - Jul/Aug Release Date: Friday, June 29, 2007 Quick ID: 0707081 One new features in Visual Studio 2005 is the support for smart tags. A smart tag is a panel that displays next to a control and contains a list of commonly used properties. Being Ultra-Mobile Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2007 - Vol. 4 - Issue 2 - Mobility Release Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Quick ID: 0704012 CoDe Focus Mobile Editorial by Markus Egger Best Practices in Game Design for the Ultra-Mobile PC Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2007 - Vol. 4 - Issue 2 - Mobility Release Date: Monday, March 19, 2007 Quick ID: 0704122 The Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) expands the market for PC games that run on Microsoft® Windows® XP, as long as developers consider certain design requirements to ensure a good user experience. In most cases, a single version of games can span both the UMPC and traditional PC platforms. Introduction to Windows Touch Technology in Windows Vista Magazine/Issue: CoDe Focus Magazine, 2007 - Vol. 4 - Issue 2 - Mobility Release Date: Monday, March 19, 2007 Quick ID: 0704082 I think we’re making progress toward the goal of bending computers to conform to human factors rather than bending my human factors to conform to the way computers accept input.Ultimately, our brains will be plugged directly into “the grid,” but until then, users still have to learn how to type, control a mouse, and press buttons in certain sequences. The arrival of the Windows Vista™ operating system with Microsoft® Windows® Tablet and Touch Technology is another step toward really natural computing. Purporting the Potence of Process Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2007 - Mar/Apr Release Date: Friday, March 02, 2007 Quick ID: 0703021 Do you ever feel like you’re beating your head against a wall? I know I do; quite often, in fact. It seems like developers spend half of their time bending technology to their purposes when the technology doesn’t really quite fit. Well, I’m actually thinking of one problem in particular right now, namely that of validation. Can you think of a more boring topic? There are few, but I think you can agree that it is an extremely important one in business software. What's The Resolution? Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Publisher's Point Release Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 Quick ID: 060083 Markus Egger discusses screen resolutions. .Finalize() - Wasting Energy, and Rotating Things Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2006 - Sep/Oct Release Date: Friday, August 18, 2006 Quick ID: 0609121 Retaining Multiple Sets of User Settings Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2006 - Jul/Aug Release Date: Friday, June 16, 2006 Quick ID: 0607031 Retaining a single set of user settings for your application is easy.Retaining multiple sets of user settings is much more challenging. An Overview of Windows Presentation Foundation Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2006 - Jan/Feb Release Date: Sunday, January 01, 2006 Quick ID: 0601091 By now you should have heard of several new acronyms that are usually associated with Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn). Multimedia Control Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2006 - Jan/Feb Release Date: Sunday, January 01, 2006 Quick ID: 0601051 If you've ever tried to find classes in the .NET Framework that allow you to play audio and video, you may have noticed the gaping hole where this functionality should be.If you think Microsoft has finally gotten around to fixing this glaring omission in version 2 of the framework, you’re only partially correct. While some basic audio capabilities will be provided (as described later in this article,) they still leave a lot to be desired. On the other hand, the free MediaPlayer component provided with this article demonstrates a more feature-rich solution to your multimedia needs-and it’s compatible with all versions of the .NET Framework. Providing User Assistance Magazine/Issue: CoDe Magazine, 2002 - March/April Release Date: Friday, February 15, 2002 Quick ID: 0203101 One of the painful realities of software is that as it becomes increasingly rich with features, it becomes increasingly difficult to use.Despite the best intentions of software companies to design usable software, there is often a large conceptual gap between what users know and what software designers expect users to know. For a simple application, the gap may be small. For complex applications, the conceptual gap can be huge. As this conceptual gap widens, users are more likely to rely on software documentation and support services, resulting in decreased user productivity. Silverlight 2 Unleashed: Introducing Silverlight Magazine/Issue: Online CoDe Magazine, Book Excerpts Release Date: Monday, January 01, 1753 Quick ID: 090023