This is a belated follow-up to my TechDays presentation last week about Optimizing your Applications for the Windows 7 User Experience.

The presentation was in “good, better, best” format, and followed this three-step progression:

1. Get Compatible.
Focus on quality by reviewing the available guidance, documents and training. Download tools for testing and verification. Strive to meet Logo Requirements. Ensure you’re using features (like the common dialogs and Most Recently Used list) that give you new functionality “for free” on Windows 7.

2. Optimize.
Employ the new UI features (Taskbar, Libraries, Federated Search, etc.) to make your app look and feel “at home” on Windows 7. Also consider employing the Performance and Robustness features (Trigger Start Services, Restart Manager, etc.)

3. Differentiate.
If it suits your application, consider the use of “natural user experiences” (Multi-touch, the Sensor and Location platform, the “Scenic” Ribbon, and new DirectX capabilities).

For more follow-up info, please see all the links above, or send me a note.

Windows 7 Jump Lists are a new Taskbar feature

Taskbar bonus link: If you’re interested in the new Taskbar, including the JumpLists functionality shown above, Rudi Grobler’s newly-minted series Anatomy of the Windows 7 Taskbar will be relevant to your interests.

And the One Link To Rule Them All for those of us writing in Managed Code is the Windows API Code Pack for .NET. The Windows 7 Training Kit for Developers link was the close runner-up in the “One Link to Rule Them All” competition.

Two links to rule them all? Well, you know what they say: one does not simply code into Mordor.