I have a series of tabs, many of which contain LOTS of fields. I am trying to prevent users from having to scroll the whole window beyond the original window frame in order to see each tab's content and am trying to find a way to add scroll bars within a tab. I don't know what functionality would let me do that and the only other option I can come up with is to use another set of tabs within particularly dense main tabs. Any thoughts on how to address this issue most efficiently? We are worried that if there is ANOTHER set of tabs, users might forget to look at each one (which is important, as this for data entry on a research study). Any ideas?

I'd suggest you add prominent buttons that either scroll up/down or take you to the next/previous tab. Maybe you could also split up your fields into multiple layouts so it's less dense -- again with next/previous buttons.

I believe the quality of the UI can affect the quality of the data.

Well at present, we are already doing all of those thing. I'm hoping to MAJORLY condense our database size by moving from 39 layouts (a dozen or so for images and pop-ups and the rest for tabs we created from scratch using prominent buttons) to more like 15 or so. I want to move from having a layout for each different type of patient information to one single patient information layout with a six or so tabs that will replace each of our current layouts. The big thing for me is that I want to find a way to transplant some of our current layouts (which take up several screen sizes, height-wise) into a single tab that is no bigger than a standard window with the option to scroll down within it to see the rest of the layout as it currently exists. Is is possible do something akin to a portal/preview pane hybrid? I'm not familiar with preview panes, but is there some way to basically just put a huge window on the tab that can peer into one of our current layouts and display it on a tab?

P.S. What is UI?

You cannot add a scroll bar to a tab control - but you can divide a tab panel further by placing another tab control inside it. You can also use buttons and/or script triggers to navigate the panels - thus "walking" the user through the desired workflow.

You can (and should) use field validation to ensure data integrity - regardless of any layout measures.

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"UI" - user interface

Edited October 17, 201114 yr by comment

How is a scrolling tab an improvement over a scrolling window? Seems like a step backwards to me.

It is generally a good idea to avoid scrolling screens (I think we agree on this?), however many layouts and tabs it takes to accomplish. And as Michael points out, and you say you're already doing, you can use buttons to navigate. If you do that, you can hide the tab panels so the user has more of a "scroll-like" experience -- i.e. moving to the next/previous group of fields -- and less of a tab-a-palooza.

In addition to (or possibly instead of) field validation, you could use a triggered script to check that all the required fields have been filled.

I've seen a database forced to a crawl when hundreds of fields were crammed into one layout with multiple tabs. Not pretty.

Also, I'd be investigating whether an alternative data structure might remove many of the fields. Something like an attribute-value system might be appropriate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-value_system

I've seen a database forced to a crawl when hundreds of fields were crammed into one layout with multiple tabs.

Is that ALL it took to force it to a crawl?

Well it was back in the 8.0 days and the company was getting rid of 40+ layouts and replacing them with one that had 40+ tabs. It ended up having a couple of hundred fields on it. The tabs were hidden and it used the repeating field trick to select the correct tab based on a set of preferences... creating a new record took over 4 seconds.

Still, i wonder if a couple of hundred fields (excluding unstored calculations and summary fields) and 40+ tabs is all it takes.