Table B-2 shows a grid of the major desktop functions and the key capabilities that every desktop solution should provide.
Desktop function
Key capabilities
Graphical desktop environment
Consistent look and feel
Standardized menu and toolbars, keybindings, and color schemes
Integrated help system
Internationalization support
Plenty of useful applications
Word processing
Ability to generate simple office documents such as memorandums and business forms
Option to generate complex office documents with embedded spreadsheets and charts and tables
Sophisticated style sheet support
Auto correction and spellchecking
Template support
Spreadsheets
Ability to generate simple formulae, charts, and statistics
Ability to include the options for conditional coloring of cells and data display customization using various fonts
Presentations
Ability to insert and edit rich text
Support for complex layouts of media objects
Functions for playing presentations with transitions and other effects
Publishing tools for exporting presentations as HTML to a web site
Database management
Small database management tools
Mail merge
Web browsing
Availability of a standards-compliant rendering engine (HTML 4.x, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript)
Full support for safe and secure web browsing (HTTP 1.1, SSL)
Ability to support rich multimedia (Flash, streaming media such as RealNetworks and Windows Media)