A: MenuBox was originally designed by Cloanto for to meet its own requirements and quality standards. The main goals of the project were to:

• Work reliably both with Cloanto's consumer user base of millions and with its demanding corporate and developer customers
• Have a very simple mode of operation to cover basic requirements (this resulted in the text menu window mode)
• Offer more sophisticated features without forcing the developer to learn another proprietary environment (this resulted in the HTML browser window mode)
• Offer powerful AutoRun-enabling features, if used on CDs or DVDs
• Not intrude with advertising, numerous DLLs, "fat" executables,  etc.

When, after growing demand, we finally decided to also offer the tool to the public in a stand-alone version, we added only one new feature:

• A reasonable price

Comparing MenuBox with other tools, we observed the following:

• Other authoring, presentation and demo tools force you to learn and live with their own proprietary environment. The MenuBox browser container, instead, allows you to retain your existing HTML skills and tools, while at the same time overcoming some limitations of HTML (e.g. to run files, close the browser window, work in kiosk mode, etc.)
• If you are looking for a way to create a simple text menu, it doesn't get much simpler than the text menu mode offered by MenuBox.
• Some other AutoRun "solutions" do not work.
• Some other tools display the tool's name and other advertising information to your users. The registered version of MenuBox contains no third-party advertising elements. With MenuBox, the only final result that gets noticed is what you want to get noticed. Your users won't be able to recognize that it was created in HTML, or with MenuBox.
• Other tools are not digitally signed with Authenticode technology, and will not run on networks and systems where a policy is in place to only run signed code. The redistributable MenuBox executable file is digitally signed with a VeriSign Class 3 Digital ID, which is the level required by Microsoft for its "Designed for Windows" logo programs.
• By being Certified for Windows Vista, MenuBox can in turn be included in packages for which certification is important.
• Other tools are much more complex and expensive, as they focus on delivering a proprietary authoring environment and rendering engine. But who needs that any more, when today everybody can use HTML? HTML is here to stay, and even application user interfaces are increasingly built in HTML. By not giving you what you don't need (i.e. a custom environment), we can focus on delivering a robust, simple and powerful tool at an extremely good price.

Related Links

• Differences between MenuBox in HTML Mode and HTML Applications (HTAs)
• Differences between Free and Commercial Version of MenuBox