Recommended Reading

• Cooper, Alan. About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 1995.

Chapter 12, "Posture and State," presents an insightful discussion of the different types of programs based on how they are used. Cooper refers to this as posture and defines the four most common postures: sovereign (applications), transient (utilities), daemonic (system programs), and parasitic (programs that monitor ongoing processes). He then discusses the three window states (normal, maximized, and minimized) and their significance. Lastly, he discusses when it is appropriate to use MDI.

• Howlett, Virginia. Visual Interface Design for Windows. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.

Presents useful information for designing multimedia programs.