This page details some guidelines and suggestions when developing UDE applications.

DISCLAIMER

Any applications and comments on their UI here are for pure example reasons; we do not want to criticise the applications for being incompatible with our recommended style guidelines. They are developed by their own teams using their own style. We have no word in saying what an application should or shouldn't look like, especially if the application is not made by us. The applications listed here are purely as examples to show what we recommend you to do and what not to do.

Design policies

  1. Keep the UI simple and intuitive; if there are a lot of options, try hiding them in some way, such as in a ribbon menu
  2. Keep frequently accessed areas clear and easy to access and try to hide non-important or less frequently accessed areas
  3. Prefer to automate user actions as much as possible
  4. Reduce the number of steps to perform a task
  5. Reduce the amount of information on the screen
  6. Keep text short
  7. Try to prevent user mistakes
  8. Allow undo and redo for destructive actions
  9. Don't be annoying with interruptions, distractions and notifications
  10. Use generally accepted shortcuts
  11. Use system adapter libraries for global shortcuts and other similar features
  12. When writing text, try to be as to the point as possible. Text should be quick to understand and read
  13. When developing an application, think of its usage. Some applications may require the usage of certain terminology
  14. When marking up text, try to stick to proven conventions: bold for important information, etc.
  15. Try not to hardcode text, as this might not be helpful to users with different visibility problems

UI elements

Most of those only apply for custom applications. The default settings of the UntitledImGuiFramework represent the generally accepted standard.

  1. Avoid overly large buttons
  2. Keep text at a normal readable size, not too small but not too big. Strive to make text a little bit larger than a standard book
  3. Make UI elements keyboard-navigable
  4. When an action requires multiple steps in something like a modal window, use ... at the end of the label name to guide the user

Layout

  1. We generally don't restrict minimum sizes for most applications, though if your application is not specialised, use 800x600
  2. Large window sizes present the following issues:
    1. Items are too far apart
    2. Text becomes too long - can be fixed by setting a maximum width of the given text container