Our new accounting software has a single-window interface. I think it’s easier than the current Goldenseal. Less cluttered:
The outline view on the left replaces about half the menu bar commands in Goldenseal. The buttons across the top replace the other half. If you’re in Sales and want to see a sales report, click the Reports button. To change its layout, click Layouts. It’s quicker than wending your way through menus and sub-menus.
However, we discovered a flaw. It’s harder to write instructions for it. Reports and Layouts used to be in one place, but now they are scattered among many types of records. There’s no concise way to explain how to see specific reports or custom layouts.
The new app already has separate record windows as an option, similar to what Goldenseal does now. Sometimes it’s necessary to show things in a new window, or put them side-by-side. Rather than struggle with the manual, we just added separate windows for reports and custom layouts, too. It’s a second way to see them, and it sure is easier to explain.
Programming-wise, we probably could have saved half a year by keeping the multi-window interface, as in the current Goldenseal. Getting all the pieces working properly took quite a bit of design time. Then, after changing to single-window, we pretty much had to go back and duplicate the old interface anyhow.
However, the new setup is a lot more pleasant to use, day after day. It’s an even bigger improvement for the Windows version, which doesn’t have a top menu bar. The app now looks more like the web, with buttons to click instead of menus to search through. That’s helpful for beginners, and easier for experts, too.
Meanwhile, the online reference manual for the new accounting software is revised up to the L’s. That’s well over half done. Many pages need a major rewrite, which makes for slow going. After 2023 state payroll is done, the new website probably will take a couple more weeks to finish. Not completely done, but far enough along that we can focus more on testing.
Dennis Kolva
Programming Director
TurtleSoft.com
