How to design a very complex table/search structure so that it caters to both advanced and senile users?
This is a "templated" view of a search popup I'm designing for a map application :
Let me try to explain what some of the things do :
Table Name : A modal menu that switches what table in our database are you searching, changing this will automatically change the fields below.
Fields Menu : A modal menu that you can enable/disable fields from showing, this will affect exportation.
Export Menu : A modal menu that you can choose which type you want to export the data as.
Field x : Regular filtering input of the table below, some are selects.
Related Fields x : A button that will toggle the visibility of its Related fields.
Related Field x.x : A server-side input, this will search relational fields that are encountered in other tables, and filter on this one. AKA 3D data.
Leftmost fixed column : A "go to" button that shows said record on the map.
Important to notice that all input fields are created automatically, meaning their layout can't be specified.
Not to mention this is also supposed to be mobile friendly... Well it works fine but not sure about friendly.
Some feedback I received :
It is not clear that you can switch tables from the Table Name menu, this should be the first step for the user, but it does not feel as the start point.
Users are used to windows, and windows does not have action buttons on the left side of the titlebar, these may get dismissed.
My problem with this feedback is that if I put the actions in the content box below the titlebar, not only it will get more cluterred, but also there will be all this wasted space at the top.
Lack of visual feedbacks, the popup will more than often overflow the webpage vertically, so part of the table will be hidden, meaning that when the user filters using one of the fields, there's no cue.
Another problematic lack of feedback is the related fields, since these are filters but don't show as columns on the table, the user can't "lookup" to see if that is actually what he is seeking, all he can do is trust the application.
My biggest issue is that I'm firstly a programmer, just got into front-end 6 months ago, working on this alone it seemed perfect, it does everything you need, but as I presented it to a regular user, he was instantly lost.
Can I just consider that a complex tool will need some training, specially considering we have a good amount of "old" users? I said this because our data is very complex, there's only so much a good UI can do.
As I mentioned, working in this alone as a mainly programmer has really got me tunnel visioned in this layout and can't really see it in any other eyes.