I've got a mental block as far as desigining the main screen interface for a desktop application that I'm currently upgrading. When I first developed this program the screen resolution was 640 X 480. Today there are multiple screen resolutions out there.
Where can I find ideas for a good main screen layout for a desktop application?
I would recommend you check out a couple different books, which, oddly enough, aren't focused on desktop application GUI design. Regardless, these texts will help you start thinking in terms of how to get the information your users need in a form that their brains will comprehend. Anyway, the first book is The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams. This book will teach you about composition in not-so-graphic-design-oriented terms. This book will get you started thinking about how the human mind perceives design elements.
Second, check out Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. It deals with navigation and data representation on web pages, but many of the recommendations (i.e. bread crumb navigation) often make just as much sense in desktop apps as they do on web pages.
As another poster indicated, good design patterns do not exist in per-medium isolation. Some things do not translate so well between analog and digital (i.e. multiple column text in actual an actual newspaper vs. an app for the newspaper) because certain restrictions are different depending on the medium, but many principles of good design hold true no matter what medium you're talking about.
One tip I have often heard is to look at designs you like for inspiration. This is not isolated to just say desktop applications, but should extend to art, architecture, web, photography, products, etc.
This will help you build a sense for what good design is and will help you in ht long run design applications that are pleasing to the eye and user friendly.
If you prototype your design you can get some help from users or other developers to take it for a spin while gathering feedback. Not just what the say, but what they do. (example: people say they don't like cluttered isles at Walmart, but they literally lost more than $1B in sales when thy removed the clutter)
I always follow the rule of minimizing clicks and keystrokes. I'm not very good at making a sexy-looking UI, with lots of colors and plump-looking buttons, but users tell me my UIs are a breeze to use. Here's one.
One of the things I discovered is that users love instant response. It's like Hollywood. People love pixels (preferably colored pixels). They really love pixels that move.
In an attempt to make UIs like that, and to simplify the coding effort, ages ago I came up with a scheme that I still use to this day - Differential Execution. (I can't say I've had much luck publicizing it, but there it is. It has been published, FWIW.)
So that's just my two cents.
I think the first step is to determine a style/theme. For example Windows 8 Metro vs. NT style.
Some suggestions for resources and inspiration (I mention WPF/Web but you don't have to be using it of course):
A - If you want to start with prototyping, control styles here are cool Web Control Styles and Controls
B - Component Factory does give windows forms a good face lift - They even offer one free product at: Component Factory
C - 3rd party GUI control makers have good looking demos
D - Try to search for the word "books" in this site:User Experience - You will get plenty of posts.
E- This WPF application: WPF Health Care Application
F - This WPF application: Billy Holis - WPF and the finished version on: WPF - StaffLynx
G - Metro style tools are out there if you like. Check this: Metro Style
Most importantly, as you may already know, balance effort with value.
Edit
DevXpress has released a new release supporting Metro Style, just seen the video toady DevXpress-2
I can't recommend Edward Tufte's book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information highly enough. Really makes you think about what you're presenting and why. All his books are good, but I find myself referring to this one the most.
A good "UI Design Pattern" book I've found is Designing Interfaces. It has sections on designing layouts, navigation, displaying complex information and designing input forms. There's a similar book out on designing social interfaces (called, appropriately enough, Designing Social Interfaces), but I haven't read it so I don't know enough to recommend it.
There are some fine books that have been recommended already. The UX Stack Exchange website is more well-equipped to handle questions like this, but it isn't totally off-topic either.
First and foremost, mediaqueri.es is a great resource for your specific problem because it is a gallery of websites and web applications that are responsively designed to fit different screen resolutions and user agents.
Also check up on Smashing Magazine. It's a blog that is front-end development heaven, with posts concerning UX/UI, HTML/CSS/Javascript, graphic design, and web design. They also have posts that study specific websites and marketing campaigns and see what they did right (and wrong) with their UI/UX decisions. Check this site regularly for daily tips regarding these topics.
Then when you've gotten some inspiration, take a look at some SO/SE questions I have starred specifically on this kind of topic. These are just general resources for anybody and not just OP:
