What's New

This book includes information about designing user interfaces for applications that run on Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows 2000. It also describes the new interfaces and conventions used in these operating systems. These features include the following:

New input conventions
Automatic (hover) selection, wheel mouse button actions — See Chapter 5, "Input Basics," and Chapter 6, "General Interaction Techniques."
New controls
Date picker, HTML control, toolbar frames — See Chapter 8, "Menus, Controls, and Toolbars."
New file common dialog boxes
File Open, File Save As, File Print, and Browse for File — See Chapter 9, "Secondary Windows."
New Help support
HTML Help, balloon tips, InfoTips, simple wizards — See Chapter 13, "User Assistance."
New folder conventions
My Documents, My Pictures, thumbnails, Web views, Active Desktop — See Chapter 11, "Integrating with the System."
New system integration support and utilities
Multiple file association support, NoOpen file registration, operating system-protected files, Quick Launch toolbar, multiple monitor support, Disk Cleanup, Windows Installer — See Chapter 11, "Integrating with the System."

If you are designing an application to run on a previous version of Windows, a Windows Service Pack may be available. The Service Pack enables you to upgrade the system code to include some of these new features.

This book also includes information about the evolution of application design and the impact of the Internet on conventional application design. While this book does not explicitly include Web page design guidelines, it does include recommendations about Web-style applications.