Recommended Reading

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

    Chapter 32, "Installation, Configuration, and Personalization," does a good job at identifying setup problems. While much of the material is useful, I find that some of the suggested solutions are impractical, cumbersome, and overly verbose. Also, many of the details mentioned relate to problems with installing programs in Windows 3.1, which have been fixed in Windows 98 and Windows NT.

  • Easter, Leslie E. Bulletproof Installs: A Developer's Guide to Install Programs for Windows. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR, 1999.

    This book presents everything you need to know to make logo-compliant setup programs by using InstallShield5, going well beyond the documentation included with the product. I highly recommend it for anyone using InstallShield5 for advanced setup programs.

  • Microsoft Corporation. The Designed for Microsoft Windows logo requirements.

    A significant portion of the logo requirements cover setup-related issues, including sections on installing and removing programs, installing and removing components, using the registry correctly, saving data to the best locations, and cooperating with administrators.

  • Microsoft Corporation. Designing for the User Experience. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1999.

    See the chapter on integrating with the system for useful information about integrating with Windows, setup programs, and using the registry.

  • Microsoft Corporation. Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Windows 95. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1995.

    Chapter 10, "Installing Applications," presents useful information about installing Windows programs.

  • Microsoft Corporation. "Installing Applications." MSDN, Platform SDK, Windows Programming Guidelines, Programming Tips and Techniques.

    Presents useful information about installing Windows programs. This is roughly the same information that is in Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Windows 95.

  • Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York, NY: Currency/Doubleday, 1990.

    Chapter 4, "Knowing What to Do," states that if something needs a label, the design has failed. Similarly, I believe a setup program that requires step-by-step instructions means that the setup user interface has failed. Your setup program shouldn't need step-by-step instructions.

  • Richter, Jeffrey M. Windows 3.1: A Developer's Guide. New York, NY: M&T Books, 1992.

    This book explains everything you need to create a setup program for Windows 3.1—a product of a time when installing Windows programs was relatively easy. Writing your own setup program is no longer recommended.



Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows
Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft Windows
ISBN: 0735605866
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 334

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net