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Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications Contents Overview 1 Lesson: Adding Accessibility Features 2 Lesson: Adding Help to an Application 9 Lesson: Localizing an Application 21 Review 34 Lab 8.1: Enhancing the Usability of an Application 37 Course Evaluation 53 Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property. 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT, Authenticode, FrontPage, IntelliSense, MSDN, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual Studio, Win32, and Windows Media are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications iii Instructor Notes Presentation: In this module, students learn to use the accessibility, Help, and localization 105 minutes features available in the Microsoft ® .NET Framework. Lab: After completing this module, students will be able to: 60 minutes Use .NET Framework features to add and enable accessibility features in an application. Add support for context-sensitive Help, Help menus, and ToolTips to an application. Use localization properties and resource files to create a localized version of a .NET Framework Windows Forms application. Required materials To teach this module, you need the following materials: Microsoft PowerPoint ® file 2565A_08.ppt. Preparation tasks To prepare for this module: Read all of the materials for this module. Complete the practices and lab. iv Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications How to Teach This Module This section contains information that will help you to teach this module. If students are interested in referencing code examples in other languages, point them to “Language Equivalents” in the Help documentation for the Microsoft Visual Studio ® .NET development system. This section provides examples in languages such Microsoft Visual Basic ® .NET, C#, and Java. Lab 8.1 is based on the Expense Report application in Course 2565A, Developing Microsoft .NET Applications for Windows (Visual Basic .NET) and is intended to simulate a real-world environment in which students will demonstrate what they learned during the lecture and practice portions of the module. The lab does not provide step-by-step detailed instructions; instead, the students are given tasks to complete in the left column and a list of resources that they can use (if they need help) in the right column. Students get the hands-on experience that they need by completing the practice activity in the module. Lesson: Adding Accessibility Features This section describes the instructional methods for teaching this lesson. For the most current information about accessibility support, you can direct students to the Microsoft Accessibility Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/enable/. Practice: Adding This practice requires a sound card to hear Microsoft Narrator. If the student Accessibility Support to computers do not have sound cards, make the practice an instructor-led an Application demonstration instead. Lesson: Adding Help to an Application This section describes the instructional methods for teaching each topic in this lesson. How to Add Context - In this topic, you can mention to students that one advantage of using HTML Sensitive Help for Forms files for Help content is that this makes it very easy to update. and Controls Practice: Adding Help to The next practice in this lesson—called Practice: Adding ToolTips to an an Application Application—is very short. If you prefer, you can delay this practice until you have taught the How to Display Help with the ToolTip Control topic and then combine the two practices. Practice: Adding This practice is very short. If you prefer, you can delay the previous practice— ToolTips to an Practice: Adding Help to an Application—until you have taught this topic and Application then combine the two practices. Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications v Lesson: Localizing an Application This section describes the instructional methods for teaching this lesson. To help students understand the use of culture and region , as these terms are used in the context of localizing applications, you can ask students in the class to provide some examples from their own experience or provide some of your own. Lab 8.1: Enhancing the Usability of an Application This section describes the instructional methods for teaching this lesson. Important In Exercise 5, Localizing Resources in an Application, if you cut and paste the text from the Name column in the lab instructions, such as AppUnavailableMessage, from the softcopy of the module Word document directly into the resource file entries, you will get an unhandled exception. This is because the pasted string will include some non-printable characters that are not valid for a resource file. Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications 1 Overview Adding Accessibility Features Adding Help to an Application Localizing an Application ***************************** ILLEGAL FOR NON -TRAINER USE ****************************** Introduction Enhancing the usability of an application has several benefits. It can help all users to learn how to use an application more quickly and more efficiently in their work. It can also make the application available for wider audiences— from people with disabilities, such as people who are blind or deaf, to worldwide audiences who speak different languages and who come from different cultures. This module explores the support that is available in the Microsoft ® .NET Framework that allows developers to more easily enhance the usability of the applications that they develop. Objectives After completing this module, you will be able to: Use .NET Framework features to add and enable accessibility features in an application. Add support for context-sensitive Help, Help menus, and ToolTips to an application. Use localization properties and resource files to create a localized version of a .NET Framework Windows Forms application. 2 Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications Lesson: Adding Accessibility Features ***************************** ILLEGAL FOR NON -TRAINER USE ****************************** Introduction By following accessibility design practices and by using support for accessibility features in the .NET Framework, you can make your applications available to your customers or employees with accessibility needs. This lesson will briefly describe the accessibility support available in the .NET Framework and how to make the forms and controls of your applications accessible. The lesson also covers how to test the application by using Microsoft Narrator, an accessibility utility that is included with the Microsoft Windows ® XP operating system. For more information about supporting accessibility in your applications, refer to the topics under “Accessibility” in the MSDN Library section titled “User Interface Design and Development.” Lesson objective s After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the accessibility support that is available in the .NET Framework. Make the forms and controls in your application accessible. Test the accessibility of your application. Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications 3 Accessibility Support in the .NET Framework Accessibility options Microsoft accessibility aids Narrator Magnifier On-Screen Keyboard Developers can provide accessibility support by setting properties on forms and controls in their applications ***************************** ILLEGAL FOR NON -TRAINER USE ****************************** Introduction One of the goals for Windows XP was to deliver easier and better customization that caters to specific hearing, vision and mobility needs. Windows support The Windows operating system provides several accessibility options that users can set from Control Panel to control interaction with the keyboard, mouse, display, and sounds. Definition Accessibility aids are specialized programs and devices that help people with disabilities use computers more effectively. Some accessibility aids are built in to the Windows operating system. There are many types of aids. Some examples include: Screen enlargers for people who have low vision. Screen readers for people who
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