Another touchstone for evaluation is whether we can learn anything to improve our own digital publications. This is an inspiring program, with a gorgeously smooth and quick interface and many ways to move around. The navigation interface is largely iconic, melding images and text windows with automatic pop-up labels. Their gray and unfocused illustration elsewhere is one of the few really disappointing images here. Particularly slick is the way icons automatically bring up unobtrusive labels or menus when touched by the cursor.
Photo captions expand in a similar manner.
An especially graceful effect is that, as the cursor passes over selectable virtual window panes in the Menus, the vague images glimpsed beyond them magically snap into focus. A Control Bar includes Quit, Index, and Help buttons, along with Previous and Next. There is no easy way to retrace all your steps exactly. A few text windows employ additional Previous and Next arrows for scrolling, and the CAD modeler has quick zoom and rotate controls. Help is for navigating the current screen, or jumping topics.