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User Interface Development Guidelines

• Use a consistant font size.  The official Microsoft font for text on user interfaces is 8 point Tahoma font. This font is also referred to as "MS Sans Serif".

• Use labels to make the user interface clear to the user.

• Use bold and italic fonts sparingly.

• Conventionally, bold face means a default value of a list of choices.

• Check spelling and grammar of user interface text very carefully, especially if you are not a native English speaker.

• Use an acronym only if the item is not trademarked or if it is an industry standard (such as HTML).

• Avoid abbreviations.

• Title caps capitalization style: capitalize the first and last word, capitalize each word in between unless the word is an article, a conjunction, or a preposition of four letters or less.

• Use title caps capitalization for these items: column headings, button labels, icon labels, menu items, tab titles, title bar text, toolbars, toolbar button labels, tool tips, webpage titles, web page titles, web navigational elements, message box text.

• Sentence caps capitalization style: capitalize only the first word and proper names.

• Use sentence caps capitalization style for these items: checkbox labels, group box labels, list box items, message text, radio button labels, status bar text, text box labels.

• Avoid contractions.

• Keep instructions on user interfaces short and unambiguous.  If complicated directions are necessary, the user interface is too complicated.

• User instructions should be in the imperative voice if possible.

• Informational or error messages should be in the present tense.

• Be cautious about using unusual color schemes or background images on a user interface.

• Define an access key for each menu item (main menus and submenus). An access key is invoked by pressing Alt first.

• Consider whether to use shortcut keys for user interface items.

• Use Microsoft standard shortcut keys (like Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V for Cut, Copy and Paste) rather than inventing your own.

• Do not use access or shortcut keys for the OK and Cancel buttons. The Enter key serves as an access key for the OK button and the Escape key serves as an access key for the Cancel button.

• A button can also be accessed by pressing the space bar when the button has the focus.

• Consider whether to use a text box or drop down combo boxes to enter information.

• Consider carefully how to divide menu items into main and secondary menu items.

• Tertiary (third level) or higher level menu items are also possible, but consider using secondary windows instead.

• Use the left mouse to select or set controls directly.

• Use the right mouse to invoke a popup menu.

• Normally the main window of an application is shown in the taskbar but not secondary windows.

• When an error occurs, make it easy for the user to recover. If a doctor looks for the name Stan Smith in a system, don't display the error message "Error #79: Invalid Patient ID", instead display a form with choices that allow easy recovery like this:
  
  Click on Patients for a list of known patients.
  Click on Retry to re-input a patient name.
  Click on Help for more information.
  
  Three or four names that most closely match the name input could also be displayed.