Chapter 1 was BS!
That is, it was Basic Stuff!
When you finished Chapters 2 and 3, you earned your MS degree! More Stuff!
With Chapter 4, you get your PhD! Piled Higher and Deeper!
And everybody knows that when you get your PhD, you can't just hang around school anymore. They expect you to go out and actually do something.
So it's appropriate that Chapter 4 is the end of Part I of the book ... a whirlwind tour of VB.NET that brushes over the top of what's new, important, and interesting. Let's see what we can "pile on" top of the knowledge we've learned!
The VB 6 way of creating menus, while efficient and effective, was a constant source of confusion and complaints, especially for new programmers just learning the language. So it's not surprising to see that VB.NET has a completely new way to create menus. In fact, about the only thing that is the same (other than the end result) is that it's a sort of "stand alone" subsystem in both VB 6 and in VB.NET.
The design and placement of your menu items and dialogs can be of overwhelming importance to the actual effectiveness and success of your application. If your users find your interface confusing and awkward, it doesn't matter how brilliant your programming is. Your system will fail anyway. Give this the attention it deserves. The gray box "Menu Conventions" on page 99 gives you some hints, but there's really a strong standard for you to follow already. Consider this selection of menus from popular applications.
