• Illustration: A Vista Desktop

A substantially redesigned user interface and shell is the most immediately noticeable difference between Windows Vista and Windows XP. Many of these changes are intended to make common tasks easier for end users or to highlight new OS functions, and some are look-and-feel changes made primarily for marketing purposes. Additionally, several new features—including integrated desktop search and a Sidebar for running small script-based applets on the desktop—could be leveraged by third-party developers to improve or promote their applications.

Why Change?

When designing a major new version of the Windows desktop, Microsoft has several reasons for changing the interface:

• Easing common tasks, such as running applications and finding files
• Highlighting new OS functions so users will discover them
• Providing a new and clearly different look and feel for marketing and promotional purposes.

For customers, the benefits of the new interface are hard to quantify—some enhancements may save time in the long run but require user retraining in the short-term, and small time savings for hundreds or thousands of end-users doesn't necessarily translate to more work output for an organization as a whole.

But ISVs and Web developers should take note, as some changes in the OS could be used to improve their applications or make them more visible to end users.

Easing Common Tasks

Since its inception, Windows has used a system of nested files and folders to organize information, but some users—particularly new computer users—don't find this method intuitive. Moreover, navigating through file trees to find a specific file or application can be time-consuming even for experienced users, especially if they've forgotten exactly where to look. Many of Vista's changes are meant to provide a quicker way of finding information.

Desktop Search. Perhaps the most concrete improvement in Vista's interface is the built-in Windows Desktop Search feature, which indexes content within files on the local PC and allows users to find this content by entering a text search query. Built-in search eliminates the need for users to install a stand-alone desktop search application, and is also a response to Apple's Spotlight desktop search feature, delivered in an early 2005 update to OS X.

A new search pane is embedded in the Start menu, where it replaces XP's Run command. (The search pane provides the function of the Run command because users can enter the name of an application to launch it.) A search pane is also part of Windows Explorer, where by default it limits searches to files and folders within the open window. Users can save search queries, such as "search for all documents written by Matt Rosoff," as Search Folders; opening the folder will immediately display the results of the search within the new folder. Several Search Folders are included by default, such as "Last 30 Days Documents," which shows all documents accessed in the last 30 days.

Some developer work is needed for applications to take advantage of Windows Desktop Search. For example, Desktop Search in Vista provides built-in support for a number of Microsoft and third-party file formats, but developers of applications that use other file formats might have to create custom iFilters to enable Desktop Search to index data stored within those files. Developers may also want to build Desktop Search capabilities directly into their application, as Microsoft has done with Outlook 2007: an OLE DB provider lets third-party applications query the Desktop Search index, and Microsoft has published style guidelines on how best to implement a search box into an application interface.

Windows Explorer changes. The Windows Explorer in Vista has been redesigned to give users alternatives to traditional file-tree navigation. For instance, instead of an address bar displaying the folder structure of the current menu, the new Explorer displays a "breadcrumb" trail of clickable links, similar to that on many Web sites, which send users directly to any higher-level folder in the hierarchy. Similarly, a list of common locations (e.g., Documents, Pictures) has replaced the menu of graphical buttons used for navigation (e.g., Up, Back) or other file-related functions (e.g., Undo, Delete, Views).

Explorer also displays the actual contents of certain files in the icon for the file, which can save time for users who might have forgotten the particular name of a file, but could use visual cues to remember it (e.g., the title slide of a PowerPoint presentation; the chart on the front page of a spreadsheet). Developers whose applications use non-Microsoft file types can support this feature with a technology called Rich Preview Handlers.

Highlighting OS Functions

Every new version of Windows contains a wealth of new features, many of which would go undiscovered by end users unless Microsoft highlighted them. Examples of interface changes that make new Vista features more accessible include the following:

Search. The previously mentioned search panes appear in the Start menu and Explorer.

New menu items. New menu items in the Start menu, Control Panel, and other places link to new features. For instance, a Games item on the Start menu links to the new Games Explorer, which contains icons for and information about all games installed on the PC. The Network and Sharing Center is directly accessible from the Control Panel, providing users easy access to new networking tools in Vista, such as a diagnostic tool that attempts to determine the cause of network outages and suggests possible fixes and a tool that attempts to map the network to which the PC is connected.

ISV developers can use some of these menu changes to make their applications more accessible. For example, game developers can ensure that a game appears in the Games Explorer by following a particular set of procedures, including creating an XML file describing the game.

Welcome Center. This screen appears the first time the user boots the computer and contains links to new features in Vista that can be useful when setting up a computer, such as Windows Easy Transfer, which helps users transfer files and applications from an old PC, and a revised wizard for connecting to the Internet or a wireless network. By default, the Welcome Center also contains invitations to explore Microsoft's Windows Live online offerings, but OEMs and system builders can customize it to add their own offers or those from partners.

New Look and Feel

Some changes are intended to make Vista appear significantly different from its predecessor. Although the user benefit of these look-and-feel changes is hard to quantify, they help Microsoft promote the new OS at trade shows and in retail in-store demonstrations. Also, many of these changes are similar to features in Apple's OS X and are meant to keep Windows competitive with that OS, which was updated four times between the release of XP and Vista. (For an illustration of a Windows Vista desktop with many of the new look-and-feel items, see "A Vista Desktop".)

Third-party developers may have to do some work to ensure that their applications take advantage of Vista's new look and feel. This will probably not be a high priority for corporate applications, but commercial ISVs might find that updating their applications will help them piggyback on the considerable marketing resources Microsoft will devote to Vista over the next several years.

Aero. Most versions of Vista include a new graphical theme called Aero, which includes features such as the following:

• Translucent windows (which Microsoft calls Glass)
• Flip 3D, which provides a three-dimensional "stack" of open windows, so users can see all open windows at the same time and switch between them quickly and easily
• Live taskbar items, which give users a preview of open windows when users hover over them.

Because Aero requires a sophisticated graphics card, Vista includes other themes: Basic, which lacks 3D effects and is available on all versions of Vista; Standard, which is slightly more sophisticated than Basic and is available only in the Windows Vista Home Basic edition (which does not offer Aero); and Classic, which resembles Windows 2000 but is not a full re-creation of the older user interface (Windows Explorer continues to use the newer navigation controls and Start menu, for example).

Sidebar. A new Windows Sidebar allows users to run scripted interactive applications, or Gadgets, directly on the Windows desktop. Several Gadgets are preinstalled, including a clock and a calendar, and more than 700 are available as free downloads in the Windows Live Gallery. Gadgets are similar to an Apple OS X feature called Widgets.

Developers may find that creating a Sidebar Gadget is useful for promotional purposes—for example, developers could create a simple version of a consumer application as a Gadget, and then encourage users to upgrade to the full version. Gadgets can also help Web developers make their services more easily accessible—for example, an eBay Gadget lets users keep track of auctions directly from the desktop, without opening a browser.

(Note that Sidebar Gadgets are different from Windows Live Gadgets, which are intended for use on Microsoft's user-customizable Web pages, such as the Live.com home page and Spaces blogging service.)

Wallpapers. Vista ships with a much larger collection of built-in "wallpapers" (background images), and users of Windows Vista Ultimate can download a set of animated wallpapers known as DreamScenes. Several DreamScenes are available for free with the Vista Ultimate Extras pack, and WinCustomize has released free software for third parties to create DreamScenes and a Web site on which they can be posted for users to download. Developers might consider creating DreamScenes for promotional purposes—for example, to promote a new video game or upcoming movie.

Resources

The Windows Vista Developer Center is at msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/default.aspx.

Microsoft's user experience guidelines for Vista developers are at msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511258.aspx.

iFilters, which allow Vista Desktop Search to index data types that aren't natively supported, are covered at msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms691105.aspx.

Calling Vista Desktop Search through an OLE DB provider is covered at blogs.msdn.com/cheller/archive/2006/06/21/642220.aspx.

Rich Preview Handlers, which allow third-party applications to display a read-only preview of a particular file at various locations in the Vista user interface, are covered at msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969368.aspx.

Game developers can have their games appear in Vista's Games Explorer by following the procedures described at msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb206359.aspx.

Windows Sidebar development resources are at msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965850.aspx.

Microsoft's Vista Ultimate Extras site is at windowsultimate.com/Blogs/Extras/Default.aspx.

Stardock's third-party resource for DreamScene wallpapers, including links to free, downloadable DreamScene creation tools, is at dream.wincustomize.com/.