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3 <title>ExperienceUI Documentation Content Frame</title> |
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14 |
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15 <h1>ExperienceUI for NSIS</h1> |
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16 |
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17 <p style=margin-left:0.2in> |
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18 |
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19 <font face=Verdana style=font-size:8pt> |
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20 |
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21 <b>Welcome to the ExperienceUI.</b><br> |
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22 </p> |
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23 <p style=margin-left:0.4in> |
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24 The ExperienceUI is a new user interface for NSIS that looks like |
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25 the latest and greatest InstallShield® setups. The ExperienceUI supports |
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26 skinning the main installer window with several new picture areas, |
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27 and it also adds a few features to NSIS.<br> |
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28 <br> |
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29 You may think that because of the graphical effects, the ExperienceUI |
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30 requires a lot more space. If you think that, you're dead wrong. A typical |
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31 InstallShield® installer requires 1.43MB. Wait...if you still believe in |
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32 floppy disks, you definitely don't use InstallShield to install your programs, |
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33 unless they're under 1KB...not likely. An ExperienceUI-based installer, with |
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34 Welcome, License, Components, Directory, Install Confirm, File Copy, and Finish |
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35 pages, uses 90.9KB of space. That's under 1/10th of an identical InstallShield® |
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36 installer, except this one is faster, smarter, and much more friendly to dial-up |
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37 users.<br> |
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38 <br> |
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39 One of the biggest features of the ExperienceUI is the information panel |
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40 on the left side of the installer window. Every version of Windows Setup since 98 |
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41 has a counter on the left side of the screen that shows an estimated count of how |
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42 much time it will be until Setup completes. With the ExperienceUI, this info panel |
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43 can be blank, it can show an "estimated time remaining" window, and it can display |
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44 interactive notifications.<br> |
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45 <br> |
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46 All this can be accomplished with code that has already been written (and rewritten) |
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47 for you, so using the ExperienceUI requires very little programming experience.<br> |
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48 <br> |
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49 The ExperienceUI also resembles the Modern UI in the way of the symbol |
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50 defining method, except many of the defines are shortened, others are |
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51 eliminated, and many new ones have been added. Also, the ExperienceUI has |
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52 multi-language support that is largely based on the Modern UI's multi-language system. |
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53 </p> |
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54 |
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55 <a name=why id=why></a> |
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56 |
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57 <p style=margin-left:0.2in> |
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58 <b>Why it was created</b> |
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59 </p> |
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60 |
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61 <p style=margin-left:0.4in> |
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62 <font face=Verdana style=font-size:8pt> |
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63 Simply put, I created the ExperienceUI because NSIS needed a makeover. The classic NSIS look works for Winamp plugins, |
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64 but what about when you need to create an installer for your user experience-aimed firewall? The Modern UI provided many |
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65 visual enhancements for NSIS, but it was still missing something.<br> |
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66 <br> |
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67 I was upgrading the drivers for my NVIDIA video card one day, and I noticed that the installer used a fully skinned UI. |
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68 I thought to myself, "If InstallShield can look this good, NSIS can certainly look better." So, I set to work.<br> |
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69 <br> |
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70 At first, I modified the Modern UI. While this made scripts very easily portable, my new InstallShield-style user interface |
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71 seemed limited because I had started with a skinning system that did not support skinning the entire installer window. |
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72 Finally, I decided that I had to re-write NSIS's idea of skinning completely. The first few tests proved to be cool, but |
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73 there were still improvements to be made. After a lot of hard work, the InstallShield UI for NSIS (as it was called back |
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74 then) was ready for release.<br> |
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75 <br> |
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76 I posted my new UI on the forums, and within 3 hours I received replies saying, "For the design and implementation, I give |
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77 you 10/10! This is truly amazing!" (Afrow UK) There was a lot of work still to be done, but the first release had done its |
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78 job and then some.<br> |
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79 <br> |
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80 Because of copyright concerns (using "InstallShield" in the product title) I decided to rename the whole thing to the |
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81 ExperienceUI for NSIS. I named it the ExperienceUI because it aims to redefine user experience and make software |
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82 installation lose its bad reputation as slow and often unsuccessful.<br> |
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83 <br> |
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84 Today, the ExperienceUI is a complete user experience solution, with support for multiple languages and extremely easy |
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85 implementation. It includes a language selection page, native support for Saivert's WAnsis skinning plugin, and other |
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86 enhancements too numerous to name here. All that, and it's open source.<br> |
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87 <br> |
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88 For a complete list of features included with the basic ExperienceUI package, |
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89 <a href="javascript:parent.window.location='browser.htm?url=http://xpui.sourceforge.net/index.php&sec=about&return=intro.htm%23why'">click here</a>. <font size=1>(Internet connection |
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90 required)</font> |
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91 </p> |
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92 |
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93 </font> |
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94 |
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95 </p> |
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96 |
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97 </td> |
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98 |
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99 </tr> |
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100 |
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101 <tr> |
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102 |
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103 <td valign=bottom style=margin:0px;padding:0px> |
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104 |
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105 <p class=footer>Copyright © 2004-2006 Dan Fuhry. All rights except those explicitly given in the <a href=license_agreement.htm style=color:#A0A0D0 onmouseover="this.style.color='#A0A0A0'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#A0A0D0'">license agreement</a> reserved.</p> |
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106 |
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107 </td> |
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108 |
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109 </tr> |
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110 |
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111 </table> |
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112 |
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113 </body> |
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114 |
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115 </html> |