Question

This will be a question more for the application designers out there, but ALL answers are welcome, so get ready!

I am about to develop an application that will house a lot of different user controls, information, views, categories, etc..

I have been thinking and doing research but I am not sure on what to research so maybe you guys can help me out. I need a design type for my windows form that will allow a lot of information to be shown as well as categorized. For example, imagine categoires like the ones shown on the end of this post.

I need to be able to have the user find their way around all of that in a not so confusing way. I was thinking of some sort of tab system or possibly using a windows ribbon but I just feel that will over complicate things and make everything look to busy. I also have blend, so WPF is an option.

If you have any ideas, links, pictures, or better yet examples please answer this. I am more of a programmer than a designer, so as long as I have something to design I can do it. Thank you in advance, I look forward to seeing the design types you show.

(Below is a shorted example of the categories)

A
-> aa
   -> aaa
      -> aaaa
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> aaab
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> aaac
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
   -> aab
      -> aaaa
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> aaab
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> aaac
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
-> ab
   -> aba
      -> abaa
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> abab
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> abac
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
   -> abb
      -> abaa
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> abab
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> abac
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded

(this is now a second main category, there will be as many as 5 of these)

B
-> ba
   -> baa
      -> baaa
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> baab
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> baac
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
   -> bab
      -> baaa
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> baab
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> baac
         -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
    -> bb
       -> bba
          -> bbaa
             -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
           -> bbab
             -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
           -> bbac
             -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
       -> bbb
          -> bbaa
             -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
           -> bbab
             -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded
           -> bbac
             -> Here lies the user control that will be loaded

There will most likely be 6 main categories, which each having multiple sub categories. Each category will be a button or a link that goes deeper until a “aaaa” deep button is clicked and the usercontrol is loaded.

To help further explain what might happen is.

A is clicked. Now you see AA, AB, AC, etc.,. You click AA and you see AAA,AAC,AAAB,etc.,. When that is clicked a user control is loaded.

Thank you for those few that read this entire thing, I wanted to give as much data as possible so this is not closed for being general or something.

Answer 1

I decided to go with a 2010 ribbon with a tree list as the content if needed.