Two patterns come to mind, which aren't particularly unusual but are still worth considering.
First, here's an example from MediaMonkey (music library software): http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/9836/screenshot036nh.jpg Instead of using tabs, which are hard to read and can't be organized, categories of options are listed on the left. That allows the list of option pages to have both a hierarchy and, if desired, a sequence. Many other structure can be combined with that: http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6222/screenshot037k.jpg http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/933/screenshot038g.jpg Another pattern is often used for customizing keyboard shortcuts. This is from Autodesk Inventor (3D mechanical CAD package): http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/7907/screenshot040d.jpg This supports a long list of parallel settings where each item (row) can theoretically have any number of options (columns). I don't know whether you're mostly dealing with sets of predefined options or with text entry, but at least for the former, MediaMonkey does a great job with configuring large sets of options that have diverse structures. Dan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47781 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
