- The Beginning: Basics
- Designing for an Interface: Big Ideas
- Making the Most of Your Controls
- Stick to the [Framework] Basics
- How It Works
- Great Sources
Designing for an Interface: Big Ideas
Designing for the Pocket PC is a challenge. You don’t get a lot of real estate. Say goodbye to 20-item menus and hello to a screen size that is one-fourth the size of VGA screens.
Now, open your mind to the early days of simpler interfaces. What’s the purpose of this app? Recording when a student is absent. Do we need 30 names on the page? No; I place three check boxes for just three names at a time. I want to look up from my gadget, see who growled a response when a name was called, and then look down quickly to find the next name.
Plus, as you’ll see in the next section, my interface always must make room for the SIP (input box). I use the handwriting recognition or the block recognizer. Both of these take a lot of real estate.