While scrolling to the DBaaS interface pages, I realized that I was spending a lot of time getting to know and learn the current interface look-and-feel. There is a lot of “hidden” info under icons, buttons, links and other stuff that isn’t that obvious and at first glance it isn’t all that obvious. I have been always fascinated by how difficult (and people, developers, could really screw up) it is to build an “obvious” screen, display, “window” displaying information.
Although its “easy” to detect that a page has problems, you will notice your eyes are aimlessly wandering across the presented info, can’t find the info (despite its in the front of your eyes), overlook important info, etc., it is far from easy to build a proper screen for a user. If you don’t know what I mean, then maybe have a read at the following article regarding “How Apple Is Giving Design A Bad Name“. Do you know how to undo a mistake on an Apple device (aka there is no “undo” button or otherwise).
I am a bit color blind handicapped,  so I am probably a bit more aware then regular people, of how people  might perceive information from a device. Or, I might be a bit more alert to it. Anyway…I believe that proper screen design and attention to the ergonomics of a screen, make a difference…
Icons, buttons, links…
I really like the clean uncluttered info pages in the Database Service Cloud section. If you have read, or parts of, my last post called “Oracle Cloud – Your service is suspended due to exceeding resource quota !“, some of you would might have screamed “…but it is mentioned in…its on the x page…”. I had trouble, for example, finding info about what was happening, where to find the info about resources, etc. One I find funny, at hind side, was about historical activity information.
I was continuously looking at the activity overview of the database instance statuses below the to be created instances and completely missed the “Activity” tab section in the header.
I was so focussed on this section, even blabbering about “you can sort it by date”, that I didn’t see the “tab” information overview. I don’t think I am (that) stupid, missing the obvious “button in the room” as big as an olifant 😎
Have a look at the following screen print and try to follow what your eyes looking at. Even the “Welcome!” link screams more at you than the “Activity” button.
Hint: click the following picture to enlarge to focus a bit more on…
Why am I going on and on about this…?
I wanted to demonstrate that it is easy to overlook some functionality. Icons, pictures, etc., do not only indicate different status information.
To give you one example I noticed while using the (luckily not overloaded with info) clean simple screens:
- icons that indicate a status change
But also can have alternative, get new clickable content, like a status “in progress” link…
…and therefore possible interesting, additional information…
be also very aware that it is also possible that you can click on the same icons, like the “database icon with cloud”, to not only get status or detail info, but a redirect to a new page with more info or management possibilities or sometimes a shortcut to something the like…
Small icons might hide a lot of additional info like the clickable triangle, or other icons and pictures, which is not that obvious at first glance…
In plain sight…
And as mentioned, sometimes its in plain sight. So hereby also a rectification of my ranting regarding not enough info, at least a part of it, while attempting to fix my resource problem as described in my last post “Oracle Cloud – Your service is suspended due to exceeding resource quota !”
For the Activity-“tab” link has a lot of useful information.
For example regarding begin and end times, who has done it, but also (when clicking on the “triangle” shaped button) it contains in this overview page:
- Failed processes
- Running processes
- Succeeded processes
And as mentioned, begin/end times, initiated by, but be aware regarding the “succeeded” info, that all the information which was show during the “running” sessions will be replaced by the final status information, for example, “The operation succeeded”.
For your convenience, its possible to filter a lot, and or drag, reshuffle, reorder the column layout.
Overall…
Overall, be aware that the screens have more info than you would think. So get yourself acquainted with the screens and don’t let them fool you via their clean look. There is a lot of functionality shown and hidden in those screens, more than you would expect at a first sight.
HTH/M
