The MetaFour code is deliberately compact and as near English as possible, ensuring it is quick to write and even quicker to understand. The style of user interface often imposed by other 4GL packages is avoided, enabling screen design to be focused on the needs of the user. GUI functions such as 'point and pick make applications equally attractive on PC's and workstations as on character based terminals. MetaFour programs can also be tailored so that when extending existing software the look and the feel of the rest of the system is maintained. Consistent programming and user-interface standards apply throughout the application.
Software developers can concentrate on the user needs instead of the bits and bytes of programming.
The database component of the package also caries this uniformity allowing upgrades to PC applications and a multi-user system without conversion. The user interface is every bit as portable as the main component with the programs needing no change to move between bitmapped and text-made screens. The MetaFour IQ offers very flexible, precise control over the layout and format of screen enquiries and reports. These can range from data displayed as a single line for every record, to a multiple-line format with column layout. For a screen query, if the information obtained cannot fit on the screen, cursor keys can be used to scroll around.