How to Use This Book

This book is intended for people who are designing and developing Windows-based software. It may also be appropriate for people who want a better understanding of the Windows environment and the human-computer interface principles it supports. The contents of this book cover the following areas:

Summary of new design features and issues — overview of new interface controls as well as the top design issues for applications.
Basic design principles and process — fundamental design philosophy, assumptions about human behavior, design methodology, and concepts embodied in the interface.
Interface elements — descriptions of the various components in the interface and instructions on when and how to use them.
Design details — specific information about the details of effective design and style in an application's interface.
Additional information — glossary of terms, quick reference information, and a bibliography.

Chapter 1, "Getting Started," includes a summary of the most important information included in this book. If you read only one thing in this book, read this chapter.

This book focuses on the design and elements of an application's user interface. Although an occasional technical reference is included, this guide does not generally cover detailed information about technical implementation or application programming interfaces (APIs), because there are many different types of development tools that you can use to develop software for Windows.