One of the suggested benefits of Liberty consignment software — i.e. that it’s a “multi-window program” — is one of its biggest issue makers and support call generators. In technical terms, a “multi-window program” typically refers to MDI Forms, where a ‘window’ is a child of its parent and is launched ‘within’ the main window of the program.
In this case, the main Liberty form has a ‘child’ form within it (e.g. the Account List, Account Detail, etc.) which can be moved around within the main Liberty window.
The problem with this is, if the user clicks the Restore button, the window is no longer maximized and the Restore + Close buttons are hidden:
Same within the Account Detail:
This is how it’s supposed to look — notice the Minimize/Restore/Maximize buttons are visible at the top-right:
Think about users for a second and explaining Minimize/Restore/Maximize buttons, windows within windows, etc. and then think about why they weren’t able to figure this out on their own — it’s not intuitive. 🙂
That’s why they end up calling The Computer Peeps for help with this, because “something looks funky” with the Liberty consignment software program.
To “fix” this, you have to either drag the window over to the left, so you can see the Restore button, or use the horizontal scrollbar to scroll over, then click Restore:
I get it and I get why MDI Forms are utilized — e.g. you can have multiple account windows open at once, have two different types of windows open at once (e.g. item entry and then another account) — but the benefits do not outweigh just how often this setup confuses consignment store owners and employees. Trying to explain it to them makes them glaze over too — this stuff is nerdy! 😀
For some, understanding application windows (and how Windows got its namesake!), is totally easy — some of us (e.g. nerds, developers, avid computer users, millennials, etc.) For most though — especially the consignment store owner/employee demographic, this is just too complicated and it leads to technical support calls.
The Computer Peeps are in a completely unique spot — we have customers that still utilize our competitors’ software (we don’t push sales to our customers!) and they choose to use The Computer Peeps for their consignment software support vs. the software vendor. We don’t BS them, we’re real with them, and much like a nice restaurant that does ‘small batch’ meals/drinks and can provide a much more personal experience vs. “big box” companies, store owners and employees prefer working with Peeps! This also burns-in to us just how much a specific design, layout, etc. can lead to support issues, so we’re able to see first-hand how the “wrong way” works-out and that drives us to build better, easier-to-use consignment software. 🙂
Dean
I am a Software Developer, System Administrator, and consignment software specialist. I currently manage hundreds of consignment workstations, point of sale systems, and database servers all across North America and I am the developer of Peeps' Software, Peeps2Go, and Peeps' Consignor Login for iOS and Android. I've been helping consignment & resale store-owners since 2003. I started The Computer Peeps in February of 2010. Peeps' Software launched in 2016 and is now on hundreds of systems all across North America. I have successfully converted dozens of stores from all of the major consignment software systems. After 20 years of working with consignment stores, I understand the unique challenges consignment & resale store-owners face. From electrical issues in old buildings or strip malls, to advocating for them when their old consignment software keeps crashing.