The Application Menu is a pop-up style menu divided into three sections: an items collection for tools executing commands or menu tools that can present a cascading submenu, a most recently used (MRU) items list to help users readily access something they were just working with, and a footer toolbar located at the bottom of the menu for tools of higher importance (such as an Options or Exit the Application button).
One of the more fantastic tools available in xamRibbon™ is the gallery. While menus provide a textual list of selectable actions, galleries provide users a visual list of their gallery items. Users drop down the gallery to pick from among its pictographic items, and the drop down area supports scrolling and resizing. With the events supported by gallery items your application can implement a live preview of what would happen if users were to select a gallery item beneath the mouse pointer, it is almost as if xamRibbon can intuit what your users are thinking about doing before they do it.
Three special layout containers can be used within a group to arrange its tools: vertical wrap panels, horizontal wrap panels and button groups. Wrap panels arrange the tools they contain based on the tool's sizing mode and changes in the group's dimensions, and may favor arranging tools column-wise (vertical) or row-wise (horizontal). Button groups are usually used within a wrap panel to ensure a set of closely-related tools remain inseparable.
Groups subdivide related functionality within a tab. For example, in a sales force automation application you may have tabs to manage Leads, Contacts and Accounts. Within the Leads Management tab you might group reports for tracking purposes into views organized by geography, product, sales team, business size, progress, etc This makes everything easy to find for your users.
xamRibbon™ is also designed for flexibility so a group can be added into the Quick Access Toolbar if your users need to work with it frequently. A special button, the dialog box launcher, can also be associated with the group's header that will open a dialog to perform more advanced functions. Finally, the groups in a tab work together in resizing their contents for optimal use of the displayed client area.
More than an ordinary toolbar, the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) can exist in one of three places: above the ribbon, to the right of the Application Menu button, or beneath the ribbon. It is also designed for customizability, as users can add tools or entire groups that they work with frequently into the QAT. Programmatically, the elements appearing within the QAT are special placeholder tools, which reference a tool elsewhere on the ribbon (or in a special collection of tools not on the ribbon) by its ID, which keeps overhead minimal.
Tabs allow your users to easily navigate and find tools appropriately categorized for the task at hand creating an easily accessed user interface for your application. As your application grows in functionality, more space for your tools is only another tab away.