Microsoft Announces Immediate Availability of ActiveX Control Pad

Microsoft PressPass – Microsoft Announces Immediate Availability of ActiveX Control Pad

REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 21, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate availability of the Microsoft® ActiveX
™
Control Pad, a free authoring tool that makes it easy for Web developers and designers to add ActiveX content to Web pages with point-and-click ease. Using the ActiveX Control Pad, companies and sites such as Blue Marble Advanced Communications Group, InvestorsEdge, the National Geographic Society and Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition have
“activated”
their Web sites, resulting in a richer, more interactive experience when viewed with browsers that support ActiveX Technologies, such as the recently released Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0.

Companies Enhance Web Sites With ActiveX Controls

Since June, the beta release of the ActiveX Control Pad has been downloaded by more than 30,000 developers worldwide. The ActiveX Control Pad makes it easy for Web developers to use the more than 1,000 ActiveX Controls available today from hundreds of independent software vendors, by allowing them to drag and drop these controls into a Web page for a rich multimedia experience. To activate their Web sites, companies have added ActiveX Controls such as Real Audio, MacroMedia Shockwave, the Microsoft ActiveMovie
™
API and the Microsoft HTML Layout Control.

“There has been a phenomenal response to ActiveX from hundreds of third-party software vendors that are now providing ActiveX Controls for use on the Web,”
said Bob Muglia, vice president, developer tools at Microsoft.
“Now the ActiveX Control Pad makes it very easy for a wide range of customers to take advantage of these components by directly incorporating them into their Web sites without having to do any programming.”

“The ActiveX Control Pad allows our designers to add interactive content to our Web pages in ‘Net-time,'”
said Curtis Beck, director of product development at Hollywood Online Inc.
“A compelling, CD-ROM-like user interface can be designed and implemented in a matter of hours using this powerful new development environment.”

“The ActiveX Control Pad and HTML Layout Control are reasons enough to embrace ActiveX,”
said Kevin Drew Davis, director of interactive development at Blue Marble.
“The Control Pad’s WYSIWYG interface and Script Wizard made integrating timers, animation sequences, rollovers, preloaders and pop-up menus a snap. Even my nonprogramming designers are using it to create pages that used to take days of coding and complicated plug-ins.”

ActiveX Control Pad the First Tool to Support 2-D-style HTML Authoring

The ActiveX Control Pad is the first tool to support 2-D-style layouts for HTML based on new HTML extensions recently published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It includes a WYSIWYG Page Editor that supports these HTML enhancements, allowing developers for the first time to create advanced HTML-based page layouts that incorporate exact object placement, advanced transparency effects and object layering. Using the Control Pad, these rich interactive Web sites can be visually designed without any programming required. The 2-D layout features work in conjunction with the Microsoft HTML Layout Control, a component that is included with the Complete installation of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 Web browser. The HTML Layout Control allows users to experience Web sites that go beyond static documents to deliver a compelling, CD-ROM-like experience to users of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.

“One of the best decisions that Microsoft made in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 was to include the HTML Layout Control,”
said Patrick Connolly, president of InvestorsEdge, a leading stock quote and financial service on the Internet.
“It opens up new worlds of possibilities for the Web developer in both form and function.”

ActiveX is a set of technologies that integrate software components in a networked environment, regardless of the language in which they were created. This integration of components enables content and software developers to create interactive applications and Web sites easily.

Immediate Availability

The ActiveX Control Pad is available to customers free of charge at (http://microsoft.com)
/workshop/misc/cpad/default.asp. The HTML Layout Control is shipped and installed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 under the Complete installation option, is included with the Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad, and is also available for free download from http://microsoft.com/workshop/misc/cpad/default.asp
/howto/layout/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, ActiveX and ActiveMovie are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

For more information about the W3C or to view the draft technical specification that defines the 2-D layout features implemented in the ActiveX Control Pad and HTML Layout Control, see
“Frame-Based Layout Via Style Sheets,”
April 5, 1996, published on the W3C Web site at (http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-layout.html) .

Company URLs

Blue Marble: (http://www.bluemarble.com/)

Hollywood Online Inc.: (http://www.hollywood.com/)

InvestorsEdge: (http://www.investorsedge.com/)

National Geographic Online: (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/)

The Nature Conservancy: (http://www.tnc-washington.microsoft.com/)

OnSafari.com (Alpenglow): (http://www.onsafari.com/)

Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition: (http://www.wsj.com/)

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