Simple User Interface Creation: Choosing the Right Program

[Valdima]

Hello,

My task is to create a simple user interface that will contain links to documents contained within a document management system. i am struggling with what program i should use to create the interface.

The purpose is for operators to easily locate standard work procedures, without having to use the user unfriendly document management system.

So something along the lines of.

SWP-

• Drills
  --Access Drill Mast for Maintenance
  --Jack Cylinder, Remove and install
• Grader
• Dozer

It’s for people with really basic computer literacy skills

 

[phyzguy]

Can't you just create a web page that directs them to the appropriate links? Then they will just use a web browser, which they probably already know how to use.

 

[Valdima]

yeah i was thinking that, the webpage should only be accessible to my company employees, i don't have much programming experience but i can learn and i believe the task is really simple.

what program should i use?

 

[DavidSnider]

If you have little programming experience I would suggest settng up a wiki like MoinMoin.

 

[AlephZero]

You need to consider a basic question here: how often does the relevant list of documents change?

If there is very little change, you could probably get away with a static web page, and just update it manually as required. But if the list is constantly changing, you need some software that creates the display "on demand" each time a user wants to look at it. Whatever software you use for that, it will need to interact with the document management system you are using. The DMS may already have an interface for this sort of thing, or if not you could try their tech support - you probably aren't the first person who has wanted to do this!

 

[Valdima]

yeah i thanks for the help, i am sure i am not the first person to do this and yes i don't want to reivent the wheel.

That was my initial concern with a static link, it will need to be updated constantly, as SWPs get reviewed often.

ill call tech support today.

 

[harborsparrow]

The first time I was asked to create a document repository, I thought it would be fairly simple. But it turns out that document repositories are a complex problem for computers. How should the documents be located (once you have, say, 1000 of them)? Should they be found alphabetically? Is there a search engine? Are they to be found by categories? You'll need a database if there are going to be very many documents someday. And, expect the requirements for finding documents to get harder and harder over time.

The best platform ever created for making document repositories was Lotus Notes--but it is little used these days and has a large learning curve and is costly to boot.

Document repositories, along with calendars and task managers, often become messy once they contain more than a trivial number of items. That's why there are so many commercial products offering these services. Also, because people have so many different requirements for how they work, no useful standards have ever emerged for them.

So, good luck. If I were you--beyond storing, as noted, a trivial amount of documents on a web server somewhere, I would turn down the assignment, or use third party software.

 

[MrTheBard]

Do you need your users to be able to access the system from home or only from your work site?

If you only need them to access the system from the work site, I'd suggest just setting up a simple Microsoft Access Database or an Excel Spreadsheet if you need to. Put it on your computer network and put protections in it so that a regular user can't add or delete anything.

You can then include an attachment of the most current document in a pdf file format, or whatever document type your company uses.

It's awfully simple to set up and you can get some great results.