>Hi All,
>
>Users like consistency. They want all forms and controls of similar function in an application to work the same. They want to see a "File...Edit...View" menu.
>
>This is a topic not specifically addressed of late: What application standards should be in use in general?
>
>My standards (right or wrong):
>
>I, for one, always have OK, Cancel, Apply, and Undo buttons on data entry forms. When someone closes a Form wihtout explicitly saving, I revert changes (sometimes I have the Revert/Save option as a system preference). Changes made in one form should be reflected in another when it receives focus. Modal forms should not have access to toolbars or anything outside of the form itself. Right-click on a combobox clears the choice. Colors are BAD. Bold is BAD in general, reserved for section headers. All control should have ColorSource set to 0 (Object's Color Properties) to avoid nastiness on someones machine who got cute with Win color schemes.
>
>What do y'all think?

Microsoft has published its guidelines for Windows UI. We all have access to this book from our MSDN disks we got with VFP/VS and online at msdn.microsoft.com. I follow these standards pretty closely. Basically I have File, Edit, View, Tools, Window, and Help menus. Other menus are added as needed. For example, if the user opens a data entry form, a Data menu appears that gives them navigation, add, save, delete, etc. I also have a Most Recently Used list on the file menu that shows the four most recent data entry forms that were opened.

To open a form, the user selects File > Open from the menu or clicks on the Open button on the toolbar. A dialog is displayed with forms to open. This makes my application more like Word, Excel, Etc.

I use _SCREEN for the application background. Again, like Word or Excel.

I use the default form setting for colors. This allows the user to pick their colors in Windows Control Panel, which is how it should be.

Modal dialogs have OK, Cancel, and sometimes Apply, depending on what they do. The does not have access to menus and toolbars from a modal form.

My buttons on a data entry form are VCR, Table View, Find, Add, Save, and Cancel. To delete, they have to select it from the Data menu. The user does not have to click an Edit button to change data, so Edit mode is the default.

THe user can change their preference of autosaving when closing a form or moving to another record. This is done on the Options form under Tools > Options. They can set other things there too.