Chapter 31: Distributing Access Applications
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l (^) Will you add some visual indication for when list boxes are multi-select and when they
aren’t?
l (^) Will you add some visual indication for when combo boxes have their Limit To List prop-
erty set?
Tip
Making your application look and work in a consistent manner is the single most important way to make it
appear professional. For ideas on design standards to implement in your applications, spend some time work-
ing with some of your favorite programs and see what standards they use.
Caution
In the area of look and feel, copying from another developer is generally not considered plagiarism but is
instead often looked upon as a compliment. Copying does not extend, however, to making use of another
application’s icons or directly copying the look and feel of a competitor’s product; this is a very bad practice.
Adding common professional components
Most professional applications have some similar components. The most common components are
the splash screen, an application switchboard, and an About box. These may seem like trivial fea-
tures, but they can greatly enhance your application’s appeal. They don’t take much time to imple-
ment and should be included in all your distributed applications.
A splash screen
The splash screen (see Figure 31.6 for an example) not only aids in increasing perceived speed of
an application but also gives the application a polished, professional appearance from the moment
a user runs the program.
An application might be certified Office Compatible by meeting certain user-interface requirements
specified by Microsoft. An Office-Compatible application uses the same menu structures as all the
Office applications. In addition, ribbons are similar and, where applicable, have the same button image
that Microsoft uses. Making an application look like an Office application saves the developer time by
giving clear and concise guidelines for interface features, and it helps end users by reducing the learn-
ing curve of the application.
Although you might not want to have your application independently tested and certified Office
Compatible, you might want to check out the specifications and use some of the ideas presented to
help you get started designing your own consistent application interfaces.
Getting Office Compatible