JavaTM Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics > Part I: General Topics > 1: Introduction > Logical Organization

Logical Organization

Applications that use the Java look and feel consist of user interface components displayed in windows. The way that you organize your application into windows and components should be consistent with the logical divisions that users perceive in their tasks. For example, a logically organized email application might include:

• A window for reading received messages, each of which is an object
• A window for composing messages, with components such as text fields for addressees, a text area for the message, and a button for sending the message

Logical organization is especially important in applications that display many objects in several windows. For example, an application for managing a large network might display:

• Windows displaying sets of network domains
• Views (such as icons or table entries) of each domain's nodes
• Views of each node's properties (for example, its network address)

Chapter 2 discusses how to choose the correct types of windows for different types of user interaction. Within a window, usability often depends on whether menus are organized logically. Chapter 3 describes how to design menus.

Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics. Copyright 2001. Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.