This is pure opinion, and probably not at all helpful to you at this stage of your application, but...
I do not like "next" and "back" as navigational options. In fact, I do not like the entire metaphor of "navigation". It feels like a holdover from the experiences of "web surfing", when one felt like one was "moving" down uncharted, independent paths, where one could "lost" without a having a marked trail to follow back. I prefer to design my apps from a task oriented standpoint. One completes the subtasks (I know, "follow the steps", it is a ubiquitous metaphor) or chooses to stop that task. There are no uncharted paths, one is never "lost", you just choose a different task. Sure, there are many times that a "wizard" can be helpful, particularly to enforce the order of completion of subtasks. You can probably guess that I turn off history management! Tracy Spratt Lariat Services Flex development bandwidth available ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of nwebb Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 7:08 AM To: flexcoders Subject: [flexcoders] Navigational Design Patterns? Hi, We have a modular Flex project. Each screen has "back" and "next " buttons. There are various routes through the application and I'm about to re-write the logic which determines where the buttons take the user when they are pressed (what is already in place is overly complex). I'm guessing that there are fairly established methods for achieving this and would be interested to see what exists, rather than roll out a bespoke solution. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good resource? Cheers, Neil
