Re: Development Tools For Informix V - Online

> Geoff Roach <geoffr@informix.com> writes: > The 2.0 release of NewEra that will hit the streets in September will have > an additional visual library that will support character terminals. > You can have one code stream that you can use to do GUI and character > apps. There is also Informix-4GL if you want to use just character apps. Don't do it. That is don't use one codestream for character and GUI. There may be exceptions for simple screens/windows to maintain individual tables. Otherwise the limitations of a character terminal (80 x 24) will destroy your GUI interface. More screen real eastate, as well as special types of controls possible on a GUI, can be used so effectively that to put such a limitation on your interface would be a catastrophe for your users in most applications. NewEra is allready known for it's limitations on the GUI design side. Please don't add to it by making the programs bad in this respect. I'am sorry Informix, and also for those who have dreamt of this. We do want the character terminal support in NewEra, but this is *not* the reason. And I hope it's also not so for most other users. When designing GUI-interfaces look at Microsoft, Borland and even the db company whose name starts with an O for examples of good design. Do not look at Informix's products. In a full evaluation of all aspects of the products Informix is best (in many/most cases), but their GUI designs aren't exactly nice nor the most effective. (They seem to be employing people to help them do something about this though.) Nils.Myklebust@ccmail.telemax.no NM-data, Dalsbergstien 7, N-0170 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company