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Creating a clean and user-friendly interface
What is simplicity? That is the property of being natural, clean and easy to understand. It is not unexpected then that simplicity is often worshiped in GUI design. Most people naturally dislike complexity in devices and applications. Yes, a few people like figuring out how something works, however for most of us, not being able to operate an interface leads to wasted time and frustration, and that's not a good thing.
If you can take a complicated piece of hardware or a software application and somehow [rearrange, reorganize and redesign] the interface to make it easy to use and understand, then you're right on the path to providing a better user satisfaction.
One of the techniques you can use in your interface design is Context based controls.
There are several of approaches you can use in GUI design that relate to context and unity. One suggests that you have to keep controls similar throughout your applications or web portal to ensure that people know where things are and don't get confused. The other approach is to change controls or navigation according to the content of each page or window. The content based approach is one where you show only the stuff the individual needs to finish the process they're working in that particular context.
A good example of the two approaches can be seen in the recent redesign of the Microsoft Office GUI. Office 2003, along with its older siblings, followed the design principle of leaving the controls unchanged. There was a bunch of toolbars displayed on the screen at all times, and the controls didn't change no matter if you were working with columns, graphics, text or pictures. Microsoft redesigned this interface for Office 2007 using a content based approach. At the top you now see a toolbar - or a set of tabs. When clicked upon, each tab shows a set of controls relevant to any specific task, be it proofreading, working with images, or simply writing.
The context related approach allows you to show fewer interface elements at any single time point, but it also gives you more controls that are relevant to the task at hand. I wouldn't recommend using a context-heavy approach for all-purpose web design because for most webpages people want to see constant site-wide navigation. This is because every website is different, and it would make the browsing experience much harder if all the individual pages on a particular site were different too.
Having said this, this can be utilized for web applications because they're not just simple websites - they're pieces of software that live in the cloud. People are likely to spend a lot of time on a web app and will have more opportunity to learn how it works. The complexity of some web apps means that you really need to utilize the context based approach, because if you don't, there will be too much on the screen at any given time for anyone to process. By showing only a few relevant controls for a given task, your users can figure out what to do in much less time.
 Standard Toolbar Icons
Science Toolbar Icons
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ArtIcons Pro can find, extract, edit and create Windows icons in color depths up to 16 million colors. Import and export icon images, create and handle icon libraries. It supports the new icon format introduced in Windows XP (8-bit transparency). Download it
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IconXP can edit and create Windows icons in color depths up to 32-bit True Color. It supports the new icon format introduced in Windows XP (8-bit transparency). You can customize desktop and folder icons. Download it
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Any to Icon allows you to convert multiple BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, WBMP and WMF images to Windows icons in one action. It also breaks down entire icon libraries into individual icons. You can change color resolution and size to create customized icons. Download it
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ArtCursors allows you to edit Windows cursors in color depths up to 16 million colors. You also can search files and folders for cursors, import and export cursor images and create cursor libraries for better and more efficient storage. Download it
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CustomIcons is an ultimate tool for customizing the icons on you desktop, in Windows Start menu and many other locations. Using CustomIcons you can easily replace default Windows icons with the ones to your choice. Download it
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