Experience Pack for Tablet PC: fun toys and real tools
Published: August 8, 2005
There are two big reasons why I love my Tablet PC. One is its go-anywhere form factor. The other is its use of pen-centric software. Pen-centric programs let you use the pen directly on a Tablet PC screen and help you interact with your computer in a more natural way.
And with the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC, a group of six fun free programs sort of like a Plus pack for Tablets, I can really get mobile and take full advantage of the pen with my Tablet PC.
In this article, I'll explain how to install the Experience Pack, describe what each program does, and show why I think the Experience Pack has something for everyone.
Install Experience Pack for Tablet PC
Experience Pack is a free download from Microsoft. Installation is easy. Here are the steps:
1. | Tap Download the Experience Pack |
2. | In the File Download / Security Warning window, tap Run to download the installer and immediately run it. The Experience Pack installer has a handy interface that lets you choose exactly which items you want to install. |
3. | Select and install only the components of the pack you want or you can tap the Install All button to add them all. |
The Experience Pack has no built-in uninstall, but you can remove any components of the pack you decide you don't want, so I recommend you go ahead and install them all for a while to try them out. They don't take up much space.
Install all programs and you can remove ones you don't want later.
To remove programs from Experience Pack
1. | Tap Start, tap Control Panel, and then tap Add or Remove Programs. |
2. | Scroll to the Experience Pack programs you want removed, and then tap the program you no longer want |
3. | Tap the Remove button to the right of the item. If you remove the item labeled Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC, you'll remove all the programs at once. |
One of the pack programs is the new version of Snipping tool, which was originally offered as a Tablet PC PowerToy. If you have the old version installed, you'll be asked if uninstalling it is okay. Go ahead and approve it. Snipping tool 2.0 is much better.
Start the Experience Pack applications
All the Experience Pack applications must be started manually.
To start any Experience Pack application
| • | Tap Start, tap All Programs, tap Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC, and then tap Explore the Experience Pack. |
The window that opens is the same as the one you saw during the install, except there is now an option to start the program. Choose the one you want from the list on the left and tap the Start button in the lower right to try it out.
Customize with the Energy Blue Theme Pack
The leader of the pack is actually two items pretending to be one. I point this out, because you may want one without the other. Energy Blue contains an entire new Windows theme. A Windows theme is a coordinated palette of colors and button styles that affects the background, screen saver, icons, windows, mouse pointers, and sounds on your desktop.
The Energy Blue theme is geared specifically for the Tablet PC with some high contrast colors and custom buttons, which will show up both indoors and outdoors on an LCD screen. This is a big plus. The scheme is a bit bold when viewed indoors on a standard monitor, as I often do when I'm using my Tablet at my desk. I wasn't a big fan of the buttons with their polished look until I took the Tablet out into sunlight. They stand out much more than the standard buttons, so for me this change is a keeper.
To tweak Energy Blue or switch to another theme
1. | Tap Start, tap Control Panel, and then tap Display. |
2. | On the Themes tab, select the theme you want from the list. |
The Energy Blue look is a theme you'll find added to the Display Properties settings.
You can customize the theme using options found on the other tabs in the Display Properties dialog box.
The other half of the Energy Blue Theme Pack is a skin for Windows Media Player. You can work with the Player in three modes:
| • | A full-screen application, which is the default view. |
| • | Skin mode, which is typically smaller than full mode, and has a different graphical theme. |
| • | Mini Player mode, in which the Player is minimized and the playback controls appear in the Windows taskbar. |
The Energy Blue skin is specifically designed for the Tablet PC with good contrast and larger buttons. If you're unfamiliar with skins, here's how you would see it.
1. | Tap Start, tap All Programs, and then tap Windows Media Player. |
2. | Tap View, and then tap Skin Mode. |
The exact way to return the Player to full mode varies with the skin. An anchor window may appear in the lower-right corner of your screen when the Player is in skin mode. You can use the anchor window to return the Player to full mode, select a new skin, open a file, or open a URL.
Activate the mini-Player
Skins take up too much space for my taste, especially on a small Tablet PC screen. Here's a tip to unlock an even more powerful control—the mini Player. It works great by itself or in conjunction with a skin.
1. | Right-tap an open area on the Windows taskbar. |
2. | Tap Toolbars, and then tap Windows Media Player. |
3. | Start Windows Media Player in either Full mode or Skin mode. |
Minimize the Player from either full mode or skin mode and you'll get the mini Player on your taskbar.
The mini Player gives you access to controls for your current song and a list of all the music on your Tablet PC. The drawback is it takes up valuable taskbar space. If you like the little Player, but want a skin, try the mini Player skin from in Windows Media Player. The skin doesn't give you the instant access to all your music however.
Get the real paint feel with Ink Art
Ink Art may look familiar if you read my article on the "Does your code think ink?" winners. I singled out a program called Art Rage by Ambient Design that wasn't a winner, because it wasn't in the running. I thought it was one of the best Tablet PC applications out there and some other folks agreed because it won the "Does you app think ink?" contest. If you're an artist, try out Ink Art and see how the tablet pen interface can perform like real paints, pencils, markers, and other artists' tools. You should also check out the Gallery at Ambient Design to see what others have done. Even if you aren't an artist, check out the software itself to see how an application can rock on the Tablet PC with a novel user interface. For example, the menus and tools all slide in and out as you need them—erfect for pen computing on a small screen area.
Please your gaming self with Ink Crosswords
To say that crosswords aren't my thing is a vast understatement. Even so, I have to say that the Ink Crosswords are both cool and a perfect example of where a Tablet PC can do what no other platform can. There you are, a Tablet PC in your lap at the local coffee shop. You're on their Wi-Fi network and sipping your coffee. After checking e-mail, you download the latest crossword puzzle and work it in your own handwriting. Life is made better by clues that open automatically, so you can easily find the relevant clue for "9-down." Download the daily puzzle for free or buy a bunch at once from Infinite Crosswords.
Make an instant white board with Ink Desktop
Think of Ink Desktop as a portable dry-erase board right on your Tablet PC screen. Ink Desktop turns your Tablet desktop into a writing surface You can still tap any icons below this surface, similar to using Write Anywhere in the earlier versions of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition software. If you start writing with your pen, you put ink on the screen. You can erase, scratch-out, and change pen sizes and colors, but this ink is really not for translating to text. It can be copied, but all the ink on the screen is copied as a whole—you can't select just part of it.
If you want to change inks, pens, or access preferences, you tap the icon a in the upper right of your desktop and they appear as shown below.
Use Ink Desktop to jot things down quickly and conveniently, as if it were an as an office white board.
You use Ink Desktop to jot things down through your day and erase them as you rewrite them in a more permanent location or no longer need them.
The preferences are important. Open them by tapping the gear icon on the Ink Desktop controls shown in the figure above. The key items are how the desktop appears and how big it is. The default configuration shows a note pad, but this is misleading as the entire shaded (faded) area is available for writing. I found the notepad is more distracting than useful anyway, so I turned it off, preferring just an open area for writing. With Show Ink Desktop selected, you can choose faded to highlight where you can write or make the desktop appear normal but keep part available for writing.
Customize your Ink Desktop area to meet your needs.
The lower preferences set how much of the screen is available for writing, with options for a resizable window, the entire desktop, or most of the desktop but leaving a section available for desktop icons you often use. You can get to desktop icons under the writing area as well, but it takes an accurate tap. Here are three tips I've found very useful with Ink Desktop:
| • | Make sure the Show Desktop icon is always visible on your Quick Launch bar. If it isn't, find it on the Quick Launch bar and drag it to a spot that is always visible. One-tap access to minimize all windows and see the desktop is essential for Ink Desktop to be useful.  |
| • | You can move the division between the writing and non-writing areas by bringing your pen over the division until the cursor changes and then dragging the border left or right.  |
| • | Ditch the pretty blue sky and green grass background. A white or light-colored background with dark ink, or a dark background with white ink is much easier to read. |
To change the desktop background
1. | Tap Start, tap Control Panel, and then tap Display. |
2. | On the Desktop tab, choose any of the following for dark ink on a light background: | • | a light-colored image to stretch over the entire screen | | • | a small image centered with a light-colored background | | • | no image and a light-colored background  | | • | Tap Okay. |
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I like Ink Desktop despite myself. It doesn't add much in terms of utility compared to the original Sticky Notes that shipped with the first Tablet PCs, but it is immediately available when you need it most. Note that Ink desktop uses active desktop, which has issues or is disabled on some systems.
Prevent file hunting with Media Transfer
Media Transfer takes audio, photo, and video files from one computer on your home network and either streams or transfers them to your Tablet PC. Media Transfer is actually the client part of two applications. In order to make it work, you must install Windows Media Connect (also free) onto the computer on your network that has the files you want to share. For instructions, see Getting Started with Media Transfer.
Once you have the system up and running, you can access a list of all the shared files on your server computer from your Tablet PC. By checking the appropriate boxes, you can copy them to your Tablet PC for later viewing or listening pleasure.
The system works well, until you want to remove the files from your Tablet PC and take other files with you on the go. There is no remove tool in Media Transfer. You must go delete the files from Windows Explorer. Better add and remove management is my feature request for this tool.
Circle and capture with Snipping Tool 2.0
Snipping Tool 2.0 is a much improved version of the original snipping tool PowerToy. It has a control that takes a page from the design manual of Ink Art. The process works in a clockwise fashion. Circle the area you want to clip with the scissors tool. As soon as you do, the pen tool becomes available to add comments.
Circle the area and write your comments.
Tap the next icon and you can send the image and comments as an e-mail message, save it to a file, or copy it to the clipboard. Select which output you want from the options that appear in a semi-ring beyond the send-to button as shown below.
Options for the file output, the scissors, and pen steps appear outside the button in a semi-ring.
There are a ton of new options with the Snipping Tool 2.0, so check them out. If you're wondering how you might use this tool, try this scenario out. You've got a PowerPoint presentation to give with several areas of a complex spreadsheet to discuss. Use Snipping Tool to cut and mark-up each specific section you want to draw and then copy and paste it onto a slide. Now you have an active and informative piece of art for each step in your discussion to focus your audience. Not bad for a free tool, eh?
Do check out Experience Pack for Tablet PC. There is enough variety and utility in there that you're bound to find one or two things you like and use. Who knows? You might end up using them all.
 | Jeff Van West is the author of over a dozen books, CDs, and training curricula about computers, technology, and aviation.
Titles include Microsoft Tablet PC Quick Reference (Microsoft Press, 2002) and
Illustrator CS Hands-On-Training (Peachpit Press, 2004).
His multimedia training programs are used in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. An advocate of what he terms "appropriate technology," Jeff focuses on applying the best solution to accomplish the task, rather than using cool features just because they're there. He can be reached at Van West Communications.
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