Palm OS® User Interface Guidelines

About This Document

Why Follow Guidelines?

How This Book Is Organized

What This Book Does Not Cover

Additional Resources

1 Palm OS Application Design

Palm OS Design Principles

Pocket Size

Fast and Simple

Low Cost, Long Battery Life, and High Value

Seamless Connection with Desktops

The Design Process

The Usual Approach

The Recommended Approach

Decide on Design Goals

Know Your Users

Develop User Scenarios

Propose an Implementation

Develop the Initial Design Concept

Complete the Design

2 Fitting In

User Interaction with Palm Powered Handhelds

Graffiti or Graffiti 2 Writing

Onscreen Keyboard

HotSync Operation

Hard Keys

Icons in the Input Area

External Keyboard

Application Controls

Integrating with the Application Launcher

Application Icons

Version String

Default Application Category

General Application Layout Guidelines

Main Application Forms

Controls

Control Placement

Labels

Fonts

Graphical Controls

Custom Controls

Application Categories

General Application Behavior Guidelines

Launching the Application

Exiting the Application

Supporting Global Find

Respecting User Preferences

Allowing System Messages

Becoming Compatible Worldwide

3 Forms

Choosing between Types of Forms

Use Modal Forms Sparingly

Avoid Modal Forms for Lengthy Data Entry

Modeless Forms

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Modal Forms

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Alert Dialogs

Types of Alerts

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Progress Dialogs

About Dialogs

Tips Dialogs

4 Executing Commands

Choosing between Buttons and Menus

Limit the Total Number of Commands

Use Buttons for Important Tasks

Use Menus for Destructive Commands

Don't Duplicate Commands

Remember the Goal: Minimize Taps

Use Buttons for Commands Executed by New Users

Don't Provide Save or Exit Commands

Command Buttons

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Menus

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

5 Presenting Options

Choosing Which Element to Use

Choosing Several of Many Options

Choosing One from Many Options

Implementing a Combo Box

Check Boxes

Pop-Up Lists

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Push Buttons

System Supplied Behavior

Breaking the Rules

Selector Triggers

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Sliders

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

6 Displaying Data

Choosing Which Element to Use

Fields

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Lists

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Tables

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

7 Scrolling

Choosing between Scroll Bars and Scroll Buttons

Scroll Bars

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

Scroll Buttons

System Supplied Behavior

Look and Feel

Breaking the Rules

8 Color and Graphics

Palm OS Color Support

Colors of User Interface Elements

Graphics

A Ten Things to Remember

Index

Write Us | Training | Knowledge Base | Legal