Microsoft SharePoint is a content management server which can be used to host web sites that access shared workspaces, information stores and documents, as well as host defined applications such as wikis and blogs.
#31860
Improving Financial Analysis and Reporting Using XBRL and the Microsoft Office System
The process of financial reporting and analysis can represent a huge cost for many companies. For example, the preparation of quarterly statements for publicly traded companies consumes the majority of a finance department’s resources during the reporting period. Likewise, it is not uncommon for equity analysts to spend up to one-third of their time entering data into spreadsheet models and verifying that data for accuracy.
#25774
Improving Web Site Usability and Appeal
This document describes research findings that can provide designers and producers with ideas to increase the usability and appeal of Web sites. Although most of the tips will not surprise experienced designers or producers, this document should be helpful as a reference, checklist, reminder, or brainstorming tool. Each section gives a broad overview of an appeal concept, a site review checklist, and a list of concrete design tips. Some ideas may work as described, but designers will usually need to creatively adapt an idea to their particular site.
Keeker, Kevin. Microsoft (1997). Design>Web Design>Usability
#18487
MLang implements a set of services that is designed to help make software that interacts with Internet data more international. More specifically, MLang helps solve problems presented by the multilingual environment that exists for software today. This article describes the services that are provided by the MLang Component Object Model (COM) object.
Microsoft (2003). Articles>Language>Localization>Microsoft Windows
#26185
Language Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)
This article is a very good primer on the language issues involved in localization software. It touches upon topics such as language direction, capitalization, code pages, fonts and input methods, to name just a few. It gives a reader a solid understanding of the complexity and factors involved in localizing software into different languages.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization
#22743
Layout Tips for Technical Papers in Microsoft Word 2000
Here are some tips that I have gathered for making technical publications in Microsoft Word 2000. The tips are written for someone with experience using MS Word who needs a boost on the basic techniques for specific layout problems. In developing and documenting these techniques, I have in mind a regular, technical conference paper with columns, equations, and figures. There is an accompanying MS Word document that gives examples of these techniques.
Krumm, John. Microsoft. Articles>Writing>Software>Microsoft Word
#23959
Localization Guidelines for Language and Terminology
How does your writing style affect localization? The following list of suggestions provides some language and terminology guidelines that should ease localizing your application.
Microsoft (2001). Reference>Style Guides>Localization
#23960
Localization Guidelines for Your User Interface
When delivering your product in foreign languages, it is important to consider how the user interface will appear to users around the world. While there are no hard-fast rules, the following suggestions provide some guidance in facilitating localization in regard to your user interface.
Microsoft (2001). Articles>Style Guides>User Interface>Localization
#26184
Localization is the process of customizing your application for a given culture/locale. Localization consists primarily of translating the user interface. Proper planning will help ensure your application is localized in a timely and cost effective manner.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization
#19023
Measuring User Motivation from Server Log Files 
Estimating user interest and motivation by just counting page requests from a World Wide Web server log (or 'hits') provides a distorted metric of user activity. Some of the reasons why this metric is unreliable are that the path dependent nature of hyperlink usability treats index and navigational aid pages as equal to the goal, because differenes in web browsers can determine how effectively users can percieve content and navigational alternatives, and because the poorly designed structure and content of the documents themselves can inhibit users from finding what they are looking for. This paper proposes that measures of how much time users spend looking at a page are better estimates of user interest than page hits, providing simple human factors principles have been applied. An extended example of how this method might be used to collect and analyze data is also included. The types of decisions that can be made by authors and system administrators based on a time-based metric of user interest is summarized.
Fuller, Rodney and Johannes J. de Graaff. Microsoft (1996). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Log Analysis
#18298
Microsoft Active Accessibility 2.0 is a COM-based technology that improves the way accessibility aids work with applications running on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It provides dynamic-link libraries that are incorporated into the operating system as well as a COM interface and application programming elements that provide reliable methods for exposing information about user interface elements. By following accessibility design practices and using Microsoft Active Accessibility, you can make technology products for your customers with accessibility needs.
#13782
Microsoft® HTML Help is the standard help system for the Windows platform. Authors can use HTML Help to create online help for a software application or to create content for a multimedia title or Web site. Developers can use the HTML Help API to program a host application or hook up context-sensitive help to an application. As an information delivery system, HTML Help is suited for a wide range of applications, including training guides, interactive books, and electronic newsletters, as well as help for software applications. HTML Help offers some distinct advantages over standard HTML, such as the ability to implement a combined table of contents and index and the use of keywords for advanced hyperlinking capability. The HTML Help compiler (part of the HTML Help Workshop) makes it possible to compress HTML, graphic, and other files into a relatively small compiled help (.chm) file, which can then be distributed with a software application, or downloaded from the Web.
#21592
Complete styles and guidelines for publishing a variety of technical publications.
Microsoft (2002). Reference>Style Guides>Documentation
#30813
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications 
Understanding the user interface can be a confusing experience for customers. By using a consistent set of terminology and style, you can help customers navigate the product user interface successfully. Once customers become familiar with this system, they can jump seamlessly between content about different products.
Microsoft (2004). Books>Style Guides>Technical Writing>Documentation
#26183
Overview of Globalization and Localization
In the past, the term localization often referred to a process that began after an application developer compiled the source files in the original language. Another team then began the process of reworking the source files for use in another language. The original language, for example, might be English, and the second language might be German. That approach, however, is prohibitively expensive and results in inconsistencies among versions. It has even caused some customers to purchase the original-language version instead of waiting months for the localized version. A more cost effective and functional model divides the process of developing world-ready applications into three distinct parts, globalization, localizability, and localization.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization
#24672
Personas, Participatory Design and Product Development: An Infrastructure for Engagement 
The design of commercial products that are intended to serve millions of people has been a challenge for collaborative approaches. The creation and use of fictional users, concrete representations commonly referred to as 'personas', is a relatively new interaction design technique. It is not without problems and can be used inappropriately, but based on experience and analysis it has extraordinary potential. Not only can it be a powerful tool for true participation in design, it also forces designers to consider social and political aspects of design that otherwise often go unexamined.
Grudin, Jonathan and John Pruitt. Microsoft (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability>Personas
#23293
' Personas' is an interaction design technique with considerable potential for software product development. In three years of use, our colleagues and we have extended Alan Cooperís technique to make Personas a powerful complement to other usability methods. After describing and illustrating our approach, we outline the psychological theory that explains why Personas are more engaging than design based primarily on scenarios. As Cooper and others have observed, Personas can engage team members very effectively. They also provide a conduit for conveying a broad range of qualitative and quantitative data, and focus attention on aspects of design and use that other methods do not.
Pruitt, John and Jonathan Grudin. Microsoft (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Personas
#26367
Starting from the basics of Active Accessibility, this article leads you through the development of a software testing application. You'll see how this testing application interacts with common controls and other UI elements, then processes the resulting WinEvents.
Klementiev, Dmitri. Microsoft (2000). Articles>Accessibility>Software>Microsoft Windows
#26187
String-Related Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)
This article discusses common occurring problems related to string resources include the text that appears in an application's user interface and tips on how to avoid them.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization
#26368
Testing Assistive Technology for Compatibility with Microsoft Windows XP
This article prioritizes areas of the Microsoft Windows XP interface that can be tested to ensure compatibility between assistive technologies and Windows XP.
Microsoft (2002). Articles>Accessibility>Testing>Microsoft Windows
#26190
Testing for Globalization and Localization
This article discusses key testing phrases needed for a successful world ready software application: globalization testing, localizability testing and localization testing.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization
#26369
Text Alternatives to Inaccessible Web Pages
This document details an XML-based method of providing end-user control over the format of an online document, Web page or entire Web site. This functionality is useful in situations where users, due to preference or physical ability, require a way to personalize their view of the content. Content managers, editors, and developers are also able to work with one set of documents, eliminating the need for multiple files that contain the same information with different formatting, therefore reducing redundancy, version inconsistencies, and workload.
Bridge, Karl. Microsoft (2005). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>XML
#23218
Toward Usable Browse Hierarchies for the Web
The goal of the following study was to determine the potential usefulness of tracking traversal patterns through a browse hierarchy as a way to monitor confusion and determine its source. The major conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that this method is a useful and insightful way to monitor user experience.
Risden, Kirsten. Microsoft (1999). Articles>Information Design>Web Design
#26370
This article describes how the new Microsoft Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI) technology expands the ability to provide closed captioning to a wide range of multimedia products.
Microsoft (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Software>Microsoft Windows
#26188
User Interface Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)
Loads of tips on how to design world ready user interface. It addresses issues that might occur in messages, menus and dialog boxes, icons and bitmaps, access and shortcut keys as well as user interface controls.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>User Interface>Localization
#26371
Using Customized Sounds Effectively
Learn about the advantages of, as well as common tools for creating customizable sounds.
Microsoft (2002). Design>Accessibility>Software>Audio
