This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Hardware Controls
Users interact with your i-mode site via handset controls, and all models feature the following:
i-mode Button
All handsets come with an i-mode button on the key panel, that when pressed leads directly to the i-menu. The button is labeled with the i-mode "i" logo.
Navigation Controls
All handsets include a four-way navigation tool on the keypad. This allows users to click, scroll up, scroll down, page back, and page forward through an i-mode site. The implementation differs from model to model; some handsets employ a joystick, others a scroll wheel, a center jog, or a 4-way flat button scheme.
There are four primary means of navigating an i-mode site:
Scrolling
Users can scroll up and down within a page on your site
Page forward and back
Users can move back and forward to pages previously viewed pages
Select links
Users can select links to move to different pages, send email, and initiate phone calls
Dial Pad
The number keys on the keypad can be used to directly access links that are designated with the accesskey attribute in the anchor tag.
In order to aid navigation of your site, keep the following in mind while you begin to design your i-mode content:
Linked text acts as a page stop as users scroll through your pages. Do not use long passages of text as links, since the scrolling of the page will be difficult for the reader to control.
Decide on a short URL for pages that a user would have to type into the handset. For instance, put all your i-mode files in a subdirectory of your Web server named simply "i", since it is easier to type this one character that to type "i-mode".
The title of your i-mode document will be used as bookmark title for users who select your page to put in their favorites menu. Choose a title that is short, yet still descriptive of the contents of that page.