New Light Structure style for Arnica Platform applications: administration template explained

January 8, 2012 by Igor Lozhkin
New Light Structure style for Arnica Platform applications was created with the both style and function in mind. 

We called this new design template Light Structure to emphasize that anything that supports information delivery should be less visible than the actual information itself. All supporting elements of page composition - tables, buttons, borders, cells, group captions, banners, etc. are now "lighter", while data labels and action buttons stand out more from the other structural page elements.

There are several distinct areas on the page, these are consistent across all applications in the Arnica Platform:
  • Banner title with the purpose of the page
  • Menu item shortcuts right below the banner
  • Main action links in the left column, with links in red representing major actions  
  • Links to related pages of the same application stand out more on the yellow background
  • Main information segment is in the middle of the page
  • Links to secondary actions are in the right-hand column
  • Each page has a sub-banner which displays page subject (for example form name being edited, as in the example below)
  • The sub-banner also has metadata full text search tool on the right, and page refresh tool on the left-hand side 
The screenshot below is an example of a new style page from the Arnica FormServer

new_light_structure_application_template_style.png

Page output generated by Arnica Platform products inherits many elements of the Light Structure style common for all administration and management modules of Arnica Platform products. Live examples may be explored further on the Arnica Software demo site