The cattaDoc user interface
The only 3 types of screens - forms or windows - in cattaDoc are:
The general user interface in cattaDoc is deliberately minimalistic in order to save precious screen space. Labels are short or - in the search screens - replaced by placeholders in the fields.
However, tooltips are applied all over - or at least, that is the intention. Move the mouse cursor over a field and a more detailed description is displayed as a tooltip for the field.
Relations are important in document as well as project management. A document's relations to projects, creators, receivers etc. A company's relations to contact persons, to projects and to documents. A project's relations to documents, to people, to companies etc.
The main user interface in cattaDoc is constructed with a focus on the importance of relations. The main cattaDoc user interface is using a book metaphor - with the left page displaying base - or meta - data for a given object and the right page all the relations this object has with other cattaDoc objects. The right page in the "book" is arranged with tabs for all the relevant cattaDoc object types - plus a basic Events tab for the object in question.
When you click on a relationship on the right page, the book "turns over the leaves" and displays this object on the left page and all its relations on the right page(s).
The same basic book interface is used for all cattaDoc objects. However, the content on the left page - the fields - differ from object to object and the same goes for the tabs on the right page.
This similarity in the basic user interface makes it easy to learn how to use cattaDoc. The same user interface principles apply for all objects.
New objects can be created from all book displays by selecting New event on top of the left page, the drop-down botton with the OK icon: - as folded out in the screen dump above. This leads to a single left page where you enter base data for the new object - the creation event. Information from the original object is taken over to the new object, e.g. the contact person ID is assumed to be the "From name" for a new document created from a given contact person.
Only relevant New events are displayed for a given object. E.g. you cannot send a document, if you haven't first created at least one version of the document - so Send document is only an option as New event when a document version exists.
This way, the user is guided through the document and project processes - your business processes concerning documents and projects - as these processes are defined in cattaDoc.
The second screen in the cattaDoc user interface is the search screen.
After successful logon to cattaDoc, the first page you see is the search screen. This screen has three parts. In the upper part, you select the object type - or class - you want to search, ie. one of the tabs. The next - or middle - part displays various fields for the object type which can be used for entering selection criteria. The third and lowest part displays the search results.
When you click on one of the search results, the book with this object is displayed.
You can create new objects from the search page by selecting New object on top of the search page, the botton with the icon. This works in the same way as described above for the book, except that no information is pre-entered for the new object.
Two object types can only be created from the search screen, not from any book page: New Companies and new Library files. However, a new library file can also be created from the special Fast library file creation window, an exception from the 3 screens described here.
The simple screens are single-column windows displaying details about for instance an event, a version of a document or a specific relationship between two cattaDoc objects, ie. a document and a person.
Some information in simple screens can be updated, but not all. The updatable information is displayed in fields with white background, read-only information with gray background.
