I've been given the task of rewriting some old software for a flight school. The current app was written in an old version of Omnis. One of their chief complaints is the amount of windows that need to be open to access various databases. For each category of data (customers, instructors, aircraft etc) they first open a browse (master) window, then either add/edit/delete from there which in the case of add or edit opens up another window (detail). And at times they want to be in several of the databases at once and be able to switch between them without having to go to the Window menu.
So I'm wondering what style of interface design would be most effecient as well as Mac-like. I thought about the design of the iApps, the data categories could be like the Albums in iPhoto, but then over on the right I would have to load a different table for whatever category was selected. And that still leaves the problem of the detail window.
I have no problem coding the back end to this thing but I am not the greatest GUI designer. If it comes down to having to hire a GUI person I will. But I thought maybe somebody here has some good ideas or has seen an app that had a nice clean way of presenting data.
Thanks in advance for any input.
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