GUI style guide for control system applications at ESS

To help developers create consistent-looking control system application GUIs, the European Spallation Source Integrated Control Systems group asked Cosylab to develop a Style Guide (SG) document. Its purpose is to avoid that GUIs needlessly diverge and make the end-result of all screens combined look harmonious, even if GUIs have been developed over several years by many contributors. Also it will speed up development, by letting developers start from design patterns, rather than starting "from a blank page". The document defines a set of basic panel sizes, containing a 960px-style grid for consistent organization of content. It also defines a color scheme and font usage, in-line with the overall ESS corporate communications manual, with the addition of signal colors. In addition it shows example screens to serve as GUI design patterns for typical screen types such as engineering screens, control applications and synoptic screens. It concludes by setting rules and recommendations for the usage of automation symbols and display of engineering and physical units. The document is further complemented by a separate document with Usability Guidelines for Human-Machine interfaces. (author)