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One of the PDC2008 presentations showed off the new VS2010 UI (not the same as the current beta) that was built with WPF. Some of the new code effects looked fairly nice (comment xml parsed and styled within the code editor).
It got me wondering if Microsoft would ever change the VS UI to the Ribbon; like Office, the change could possibly be forced with no 'classic' mode.
Would you embrace such a change?
From what I gather
Advanced programmers: minor change, hot keys are the same.
Intermediate/Beginner programmers: considerable change, every button has moved!
New programmers: Context sensitive ribbons help emphasize what they may do and where.
It all depends on how it would be implemented.It could be a good thing, but just in case I would like it to be optional:)
Rico Mariani mentions several times that he does not like the Ribbon for VS, so I don't think it will be implemented any time soon.
If they did that, I would predict that the biggest backlash of developers ever would occur. The Ribbon is a great evolution of the File menu, but it does not solve all problems, and it's no where near mature enough for an application like VS.
I honestly believe that such a move would make many devs move to something like SharpDevelop. Including me. The best move wold be to make the Ribbon style menu optional, and NOT the default.
I absolutely love the Ribbon Interface for MS Office, because it is so intuitive, but I would hate it for Visual Studio. MS Office is a program for everyone, so it should be easy to use for everybody, but VS is a specialised application designed for experts.
Bad Bad Bad... I already remove all the toolbars that exist in favor of a custom created one which contains about 15 select commands from all over the place.
I don't need a ribbon cluttering up my workspace.
I'm a huge fan of the ribbon, but it would be horrible if they implemented a ribbon-like UI on VS if it hogged too much screen real estate and kept me from seeing my code.
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I'm a relatively new developer (two years experience, coming from an apprenticeship) and in my workplace we've only ever had one developer working on a project at a time.
We keep our projects in Microsoft Visual Source Safe and check out files as required, and checking back in when we're done.
However, I've been doing some thinking lately and I'm unsure how we'd work on the same project at the same time? Almost everything has dependencies on some core code and certain base classes. Is there anywhere I can go to read up on concurrent development, or are there any 'techniques' I should be researching?
How do team work on projects together? For background information I'm a .NET developer working mostly with VB.NET and webforms, but am moving onto C# MVC.
Edit
I think what I'm really asking here is about the techniques that should be employed as opposed to the software. I've been tinkering with Git a little and can see the benefits of the system over VSS. I was looking more for help with techniques on a project level that can be employed with concurrent development;
Should the development of two sections be completed then merged, or should it be more closely worked on together?
Are there any proven techniques or best practices when it comes to reviewing changes or discussing the next move?
Are there any books or articles I can read on how to produce a project as a team more efficiently etc?
Given you are using a Microsoft Stack, does it not make more sense to update yourself and use TFSOnline as an example. Its far better than its predecessor and everything is fully integrated into your toolset (assuming you use Visual Studio). There are loads of tools out there but everything I use is free inside a MSDN subscription and it plays nicely together. I am not saying others aren't ahead of the game but it makes more sense given what you are doing. Was very surprised to see SourceSafe stil being used.
I never used Visual Source Safe, but most chances are a different source control tool called Git (http://git-scm.com/) will make the concurrency better.
As the project will grow, you will probably have less collisions - just because there are more files to work on.
Try to push back the code more often. No more than 1/day - and hopefully sooner.
Use some kind of SCM(source code management) Wiki,
You can use some kind of program to help you, today the most popular program to this is GIT Wiki Git, but have many others. Do some research and find out what is better for you.
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I'm a blind student who's taking a required UI class. One of the assignments is to take screen shots of both a good and bad application user interface and comment on what's good and bad about it. I'll have a reader help describe the interface to me but would like pointers on applications to check out. They must be windows apps. In answers I'd like a link to the application as well as brief comments on what to focus on in the UI, for example color scheme is horrible, badly labeled controls, cluttered layout, etc.
An interface experience for a Blind person is a relevant aspect of UI design. If I were in your position I wouldn't focus so much on the visual aspect of user interfaces. Go from your personal experience. What is an application that you, as a blind person had a great degree of difficulty using? What applications are a joy to use?
If I were in your teacher's position, I would find such descriptions far more valuable than an attempt at pretending as though you can see, and that things like colors or fonts are relevant to you. (unless you are only partially blind, in which case font size may indeed be a relevant factor)
There are a great many people in my field that are keenly and constantly interested in such testimonials and evaluations from blind people. Not just in an academic context. I work for a government organisation that is required to make its resources accessible to disabled people. Don't sell your own perspective short, just because of a poorly worded assignment.
A little bit old, but quite well written, with plenty of examples: http://homepage.mac.com/bradster/iarchitect/shame.htm
Good: Microsoft Office 2007
Bad: Microsoft Office 2003
As far as Windows applications go, I like Microsoft Outlook as a positive example UI. The layout of Microsoft Outlook has been imitated in a lot of other software. It allows/facilitates quick and easy navigation and searching of a variety of information with very little user effort. It allows the user to see their information in different formats (message preview, list,est.) and to adjust the UI to meet their needs and make the information that is most valuable to them most prevalent/easily acceptable.
I have to assume that you have already done this assignment, but I want to give Breton a thumbs-up for his suggestion. If there is one thing that is most often overlooked, it is consideration for visually impaired users. I often steer aspiring web developers to http://colorfilter.wickline.org/ so that they can run their pages through the various filters. If one takes a screen shot of their application, they can embed it in a web page and run it through the tester also.
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I will start developing my next desktop application in about a month. In the past I have delivered functional software that hasn't wowed anyone, including myself, in the usability or aesthetics department.
Does anybody know of any resources or guides or even books that could showcase examples of good design in desktop software?
There seems to be a lot of resources for web apps, but such resources for desktop applications are rather slim.
I enjoyed these dot net rocks tv videos by Mark Miller on The Science of a Great User Experience really got me thinking about good ui:
http://www.dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showNum=112
http://www.dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showNum=123
Where you can really make a difference with GUI design is if you are addressing a difficult to understand concept in a GUI.
When you are doing that, creativity is critical. When dealing with complex hardware configurations (something I had to do a lot, but probably doesn't apply to you), I've had good luck going to tech manuals and tech support people and trying to completely understand the problem. Then I took the methods they used to show me (diagrams from the manuals, whiteboard drawings, etc) and tried to code them into a GUI.
Had a couple massive successes with this.
Iteration is also critical. Prototype something quickly then beg everyone you see to try it. Ask them to solve a problem, then watch where they go first and watch what they have problems with.
Address every problem and stumbling block.
Don't be afraid to throw it all away and start over, it was only prototype code.
Separate your GUI from your implementation so that you can swap out the GUI if you find a better approach.
If you want to concentrate on just one feature, have a look at ITunes' search box which filters as you type. Other software may have had this before, but this was I think the first place I encountered it.
The difference between this and classic search was an eye opener for me in terms of readability.
Auto-complete which you see in so many places is another one. I'd recommend IntelliJ IDEA for the way it took auto-completion which emacs, Visual studio etc had for ages and added autocompletion for variable names and method names in a manner which almost seemed psychic the first time you encountered it.
You can look at Thirteen23 Experiences
To make things usable, you need to make sure that you follow existing conventions for your target platform and application type.
For example, if you're developing a Windows App you'd better make sure that control-c copies, control-v pastes, control-s saves, etc. The File menu better be the leftmost item in the menu bar, and the Help menu better by the rightmost item.
If you don't follow existing conventions, users are going to get annoyed with your application very quickly.
Google for HIG. Human Interface Guidelines typically include lots of research into best-practice in user interfaces, and explain in great detail how to design each aspect of a program. Also, have a google for "user-interface hall of shame" or something like that.
In this question I mentioned GUI bloopers. Part of great design is knowing what makes bad design and why. It is actually a great book, although I don't know how much of it is available on the website.
You can check case studys on websites of GUI companys. I fund few at www.puzzlehead.com
Check there and also other sites.
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My old system involved using Microsoft FrontPage and a frame page. The top frame contained a (tree) list of the tasks and sub-tasks I'd need to do, while the bottom frame contained any useful project information, notes, etc. I'd invariably need to jot down. I used bookmarks in the page to mark major tasks while highlighting current tasks with bold and marking off finished ones with italic. I would use a third frame for navigating between bookmarks via. a Table of Contents of hyperlinks linking to them. It was pretty clumsy, but it worked nicely.
Obviously, I want to upgrade now. Any good ideas on how to get a new system in place that can do something similar to my old one (without the crudeness/clumsiness)? That is, a formal piece of software for that purpose?
ToDoList is pretty good. Cons: Windows-only.
We use FogBugz, and it's worked out brilliantly for us. Far better than JIRA, easy to use, friendly, powerful. Highly recommend it.
It has a built-in wiki for notes.
(Really easy to use!)
It has a bug tracking system that is
second to none.
You can even make your software
submit its error reports to FogBugz,
and it will automatically generate a
case with relevant information in it.
This feature is called Scout.
You can create releases and all file
cases, features, bugs, whatever by
release, priority, etc. the power is
all there.
And best of all, you can host it on
your own server or have them host it
for you. Nifty system.
Works on just about any OS and browser.
Unlike most web applications, it's snappy!
We are using Jira for task lists, version planning and time management. And Google sites for internal documentation and related things. In general most Wiki system will be good for the documentation and todo (e.g. Confluence).
TFS : Team Foundation System
Full source control & work item tracking all integrated with Visual Studio.
If you use Visual Studio, and work in a windows environment, I recommend this.
If you don't use Visual Studio I recommend you do ;)
You can also setup project portals etc. that display activity, reports, all that jazz.
Basecamp from 37signals is a great tool to keep track of your tasks and projects.
I use fogbugz s&s edition
I think that an Issue Tracking System may suite your needs, there are plenty alternatives from OpenSource to Commercial...
You can setup and use ASP.NET Time Tracker Starter Kit. It also allows you to extend it.
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I have multiple projects on my own, each one with a deadline and a (personal) estimate of the time that I should invest to get the thing done.
At a particular time I can be involved in multiple projects.
What I need is a software that lets me plan and display a "timeline": a line for each project that extends when I've to push efforts into it.
Did you know something that does something similar? I remember that this is a technique used in Software Engineering, but I don't remember the name...
EDIT
Thanks to duffymo, I know that I want a Gantt diagram manager :)
Related:
Which Gantt chart/Project management tool would you recommend for linux?
Project Management — resource chart
Can you recommend a good php Gantt charting development?
Is there any LaTeX package for drawing Gantt diagrams?
On the Feeware java-based front, you have GanttProject.
You can launch it from this jnlp link.
If you don't have Microsoft Project, you can do this in Excel using a stacked bar chart.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA010346051033.aspx
I think it's called a Gantt chart.
And Google can find a bunch of open source possibilities, including this one. I don't know if it's any good.
Microsoft project is a good one.
For Mac OS, you should take a look at OmniPlan.
Do you really need a Gannt chart?
You have a collection of work (a backlog) that includes items from several projects. You need to predict the end dates of projects based on the rate at which you're actually completing work (your velocity) and on the current mix of work items, and make decisions about shuffling the backlog to move the estimate completion dates of various projects. Right so far?
Given a velocity (units of work per fixed time period), you can plan ahead by dividing your backlog items into time boxes (iterations) that hold no more than a velocity's worth of items. The time box that the last work item for a project lands in is when that project is predicted to be done. Shuffle the mix accordingly.
This is called "reality based" scheduling in some quarters, since it's based on a demonstrated rate of progress and consistent estimation. Gannt is plan based; there's a tendency to want to make reality conform to the plan, which causes a lot of stress and pain.
There are a number of Agile/Scrum tools that will automate the management of your work backlog, and let you track work and calculate velocity. I'm a fan of Pivotal Tracker, which is web-based and free. (Full disclosure: I worked with Pivotal Labs.)
I would recommend you an online and free tool that will let you create what you want, it is called "Gantter"
For Linux and Windows: Planner
OpenProj is really capable, seems to be MSProject compatible, and works on Windows / Linux / Mac (it's Java based). It's also free.
About time management software, there are many kinds of it, one I have used is called EfficientCalendar, just an advise.