#interface issue

Deploying an intermediate solution As a result I implemented an intermediate solution, whereas my laptop would suffice as Secure Agent to run the targeted Informatica Cloud tasks.

Now here’s what it all came down to: I installed Informatica Secure Agent (ISA) on my laptop and after all tests were done correctly, I wanted the ISA to start up automatically everytime my laptop boots.

From here on, I needed to go into the Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and find the ‘InformaticaCloudSecureAgent’ Service.

Still no Rocket Science so far, as that you go into the Service and set the Startup Type value to Automatic.

No Interface Now this is where the trouble started for me. While wanting to adjust some proxy server settings within the client, the interface no longer was displayed. It was nice to find the ISA Service was still running and all tasks were still executed.

The tasks were Executed if my laptop was accessing the internet on my home network. As soon as I reached the Office network of my employer, the tasks ceased to execute.

I needed to configure the Proxy Settings on the ISA.

As that the interface no longer was being displayed, I figured I needed to to stop the ‘InformaticaCloudSecureAgent’ Service.

Easier said than done, as that I was not able to disable it through the Administrator panel. This meant I had to do it thoroughly. I ran the Command Prompt as an Administrator and gave it the old ‘net stop’ command.

As I'll do occasionally on this blog, I want to point out a bit of poor interface design. In this case, it's just one small part of an otherwise very well made application.

Here's a screenshot from an app I use all the time on the iPhone called Siri. Siri does a lot of cool stuff but I particularly use it to schedule reminder emails for things that I don't want to forget.

The interface issue arises on a screen that asks your to select between "Email Me" and "Alert Me". This particular interface component is essentially a radio button, but it lacks a clear designation of which of the two items are selected. The problem here is lack of precedent. If there were three available options, we'd be able to intuitively determine which of the three was determined because there would be two others to compare it to. In this case, we have only two options total, and it's not visually clear which one is selected. Can you guess: Is it the dark one, or the light one?

How to fix it: Using an already understood precedent such as an arrow would make this instantly clear to anyone who is familiar with the classic radio button.