Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a544
From: a544@mindlink.UUCP (Rick McCormack)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Is 4d (Fourth Dimension) on Mac better than ALL?
Message-ID: <4278@mindlink.UUCP>
Date: 30 Dec 90 14:31:17 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Lines: 36

in an article, Philip Machanick
philip@pescadero.stanford.ed is replying to Joe Saladino ({joe@bram.UUCP})
about using/choosing a database and interface.  He says:
> A familiar story. (Only the one I know of didn't involve
> 4D.) If you have anything but a trivial DB application,
> getting the DB right is the major priority. Once you have
> that part sorted out, you can start worrying about user
> interface etc. Not that these are mutually exclusive - it's
> just a matter of making sure you understand your priorities.
> If you need to get a relatively big multi-user database
> right, with acceptable response time, etc., you'd better
> make sure the tools you choose meet these goals from the
> start. Maybe the correct approach would be a pretty
> interface on top of a terminal emulator, for example (rather
> than a Mac-based DB) - but this could only become obvious
> once you've had a first pass at the DB design.

Wouldn't it be nice if the interface design tools were a part of the database?
I am suggesting that the databases need an associate program that allows users
to create an interface or interfaces for users or groups of users.  The
associate program would make use of either/or/and
text and graphics (i.e. buttons, hot keys, mapping, etc.).  The search
functions, entry and deletion could all be implemented in multiple screen
formats, and then applied to the underlying database.
I know this is already a partial function of some databases, but the more we
know about interface usefulness, the more we see that the interface design is
not an add-on to a program, but an important part of the usefulness of the
program.  thus, it would seem to make sense to separate the functions of
database design and database use, in order to ptimize these two very distinct
functions.
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