For all but the most basic of forms, the current tab order interface for DB/Textworks is extremely inefficient and frustrating to use. Here are the four major issues as I see them:

1) The window is too small (1" x 3") and cannot be resized. Because of this, only 6 1/2 form elements are displayed at any one time. A better option would be to make the window resizable so that many more form elements could be viewed simultaneously.

2) Only one form element at a time can be selected for manipulation. A better option would be to allow blocks of elements to be highlighted and manipulated as a unit. This would be particularly helpful when having to move a group of elements from one end of the tab order to the other, especially on forms containing hundreds of elements. It also would be useful for setting the "skip this box" option for groups of elements, rather than the current process which requires users to highlight an element, click the "skip this box" option, highlight the next element, click the "skip this box, option...ad nauseum.

3) The relative positioning of elements within the tab order can only be done one mouse click at a time. A better option would be to allow drag-and-drop positioning. Together with #2 above, this option could literally save thousands of mouse clicks (and hours of time) for those users attempting to set the tab order of forms with lots of elements.

4) The default tab order button is next to useless for all but the most linear of form layouts.

On forms containing hundreds of form elements, these limitations make changing the tab order extremely frustrating. Not to mention painful on the wrist. In fact, the number of mouse clicks required to shuffle the elements around, one at a time, quickly reaches absurd proportions on forms with lots of form elements. I actually wore out the left button on a mouse when setting the tab order for a form.

Thanks,
Randy