Information Management

Use when

Web based applications, banking applications, email readers, CMS-es. Basically registration systems....also graphical drawing applications?

How

When managing sets of objects, users basically work from one or more main View. The objects can be anything such as emails, bills, work orders, notices, news texts, etc. Such overviews are often List Builder in combination with Table Filter. When managing objects, the objects are the most important thing the users needs to see and is therefore presented on the Center Stage. From the overview, the users can manage the set with typical operations such as

• Creating. This either creates an empty object only or users can create the item using a and/or a Wizard.
• Modifying. The details of the object can be changed, preferably in-place but otherwise in a new page. Usually some sort of is used.
• Deleting. Select one or more objects manually or by setting criteria like in an Advanced Search and then execute the deletion.
• Moving. Select one or more objects and more to a new location.
• Copying. Select and copy.
• Storing/retrieving. Can be online or to a local filesystem.
• Sorting. Either using Table Filter or List Sorter

The basic principle to use is "overview first". That often translates to seeing the result as far as it exists. Consider Wizard when novice users are asked to create something. The users work on a central canvas that is surrounded by functionality grouped in menu's or other navigational items. Customizable Window can help to allow users to manage groups of functionalities that need to be in sight or away.

Why

The basic principle at work is overview-by-detail. When viewing an overview, users can add, delete, copy

More Examples