- Who Is My Audience?
- Data Entry Guidelines
- Ease-of-Use Guidelines
- General Oracle Developer Guidelines
- Summary
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General Oracle Developer Guidelines
In addition to the guidelines mentioned previously, the following sections help you build effective interfaces for your Oracle Developer applications.
General Rule 1: Pick your Fonts and Stick with Them
Before the graphical user interface, most people were vaguely aware of the differences between fonts. After users had the ability to customize, they became instant experimenters. It was not uncommon to see documents use 10 to 20 different fonts. It didn't take long for the usability experts to stand up and proclaim this to be bad. Hopefully, you listened. Most applications should use only one or two fonts.
NOTE
Oracle Developer has different default rules for the various platforms it runs on. Rather than rely on defaults, explicitly select fonts for the elements in your application.
General Rule 2: Use Colors Wisely
Everyone should understand this rule and apply it accordingly. For instance, don't use yellow letters on a white background. However, you also need to be aware of color-blindness. I once worked with an application developer who was color-blind, and I learned a lot from that experience. Color-blind people have difficulty seeing shades in various colors. For instance, shades of brown and purple can look identical. As long as you stick to using three or four common but very different colors (such as red, black, and white), you won't confuse your users.
General Rule 3: Be Consistent
It is important that you don't try to come up with new ways of doing the same tasks. Oracle Developer allows you to reuse dialog boxes and other elements. That is a wise practice.