I’ve just finished writing a routine for a customer that automates what I can only describe as a truly horrendous user interface. \u00a0I’m not sure who designed it or why they designed it the way they did but I feel sorry for people who have to use this software. \u00a0And apparently it is the industry leading software in its niche.<\/p>\n
The software is devoid of keyboard shortcuts and there are no menu items. The only way around the software is by clicking the mouse on icons which have no way at all of gaining keyboard focus – no keyboard short cuts and you cannot even Tab to them.<\/p>\n
The main data entry screen has a few accelerator keys (shown by an underlined character) dotted around but they are duplicated and don’t seem to work anyway! \u00a0So on one screen ALT-S would appear to focus three different fields, but in fact focuses none.<\/p>\n
Once logged into the system it would seem the only way back to the main menu is to exit the app and restart it.<\/p>\n
The only way to add a customer record is first to search for one.<\/p>\n
And this is just the start of it. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Luckily Macro Scheduler gives us image recognition<\/a> and screen scraping<\/a> abilities so even this dreadful user interface can be automated. \u00a0We did it. \u00a0But I had to spare a thought for the people who use this software every day. \u00a0Everything takes twice as long to do as it needs to. \u00a0It can’t be fun. It also suggests that the UI wasn’t tested and no consideration was made to its accessibility.<\/p>\n