Apple 2 - Manuals

vii Chapter 4 Pickers 4-1 List Pickers 4-2 Elements of List Pickers 4-2 Check Marks 4-3 Icons 4-3 Item Names 4-3 Table of Items 4-4 Unavailable Items 4-5 Organization of List Pickers 4-6 Sources of List Pickers 4-7 Position of List Pickers 4-8 Using a List Picker 4-9 Picking an Item 4-9 User Editing...

viii Chapter 5 Icons 5-1 Designing Effective Icons 5-1 Thinking Up an Icon Image 5-2 Make Shapely Icons 5-3 Design for the Newton Display 5-3 Avoid Text in Icons 5-4 Make All Sizes of an Icon Look Alike 5-4 Use Icons Consistently 5-5 Think About Multicultural Compatibility 5-6 Extras Drawer Icons 5-...

ix Shape Input 6-13 General Input 6-14 Recognition 6-15 User Control of Recognition 6-16 Deferred Recognition 6-18 Forcing Recognition 6-19 Configuring Recognition 6-19 Editing 6-21 Selecting Text and Shapes 6-22 Erasing Text or Shapes 6-24 Joining Words 6-26 Breaking Paragraphs 6-26 Inserting Space...

x Error Handling 6-37 Error Correction 6-37 Error Detection 6-38 Chapter 7 Routing and Communications 7-1 The In/Out Box 7-2 The In Box 7-3 The Out Box 7-4 In/Out Box Items 7-4 Viewing Items in the In/Out Box 7-5 Viewing Routing Information 7-6 Routing Outgoing Items 7-7 Action Button and Picker 7-8...

xi Routing Status 7-29 Stopping a Send or Receive in Progress 7-31 Transport Preferences 7-32 Routing Alternatives 7-34 Routing by Intelligent Assistant 7-35 Programmed Sending 7-36 Chapter 8 Newton Services 8-1 Automatic Busy Cursor 8-2 Notify Button and Picker 8-2 Alarms 8-4 Unacknowledged Alarms ...

xii Preferences 8-30 System-wide Preferences 8-30 Application Preferences 8-31 Appendix Avoiding Common Mistakes A-1 Info Button A-1 New and Show Buttons A-1 Screen Size A-1 Tapping v. Writing A-1 Picker Placement and Alignment A-2 Field Alignment A-2 Close Box Size A-2 Button Location A-2 Button Sp...

xiii Figures Chapter 1 Newton and Its Users 1-1 Figure 1-1 Metaphors help people quickly grasp how software works 1-5 Figure 1-2 Users should feel they are directly controlling something tangible 1-6 Figure 1-3 An application adjusts its size, position, and layout to fit the screen 1-12 Chapter 2 Co...

xiv Figure 2-18 A confirmation alert tells the user about a grave situation 2-19 Figure 2-19 A status slip reports on a lengthy operation 2-20 Figure 2-20 A sequence of status messages traces the steps of an operation 2-22 Figure 2-21 A gauge in a status slip measures elapsing progress 2-23 Figure 2...

xv Chapter 3 Controls 3-1 Figure 3-1 Tapping a button initiates an action 3-2 Figure 3-2 A text button’s name states what the button does 3-2 Figure 3-3 Leave standard margins between a button’s name and its borders 3-3 Figure 3-4 Name buttons distinctively wherever possible 3-5 Figure 3-5 Where to ...

xvi Figure 3-31 Where an Action button goes 3-29 Figure 3-32 Seeing an Item Info slip 3-30 Figure 3-33 A Rotate button lets users change the screen orientation 3-31 Chapter 4 Pickers 4-1 Figure 4-1 The parts of list pickers 4-2 Figure 4-2 A list picker can contain a two-dimensional table of items 4-...

xvii Chapter 5 Icons 5-1 Figure 5-1 Distinctive icon shapes are easier to recognize than rectangular icons 5-3 Figure 5-2 Avoid text in icons 5-4 Figure 5-3 Small icon resembles large icon 5-5 Figure 5-4 Use icon elements consistently 5-5 Figure 5-5 The good, the bad, and the ugly in Extras Drawer i...

xviii Figure 6-14 The Recognizer button and picker give users control over recognition 6-16 Figure 6-15 Users may need to control recognition separately in a slip 6-17 Figure 6-16 In an Alpha Sorter picker, users select a sort key for ink text 6-19 Figure 6-17 Selecting words and shapes 6-23 Figure ...

xix Figure 7-8 A routing slip shows sender, recipient, and type of transport 7-13 Figure 7-9 Changing the sender’s name or location 7-14 Figure 7-10 Choosing a printer in a routing slip 7-16 Figure 7-11 Choosing fax or e-mail recipients in a routing slip 7-17 Figure 7-12 Switching to another transpo...

xx Figure 8-5 A standard Find slip specifies what to find and where to look 8-7 Figure 8-6 Specifying text or date searches in a Find slip 8-7 Figure 8-7 Specifying a date in a Find slip 8-8 Figure 8-8 Searching specified applications 8-9 Figure 8-9 A custom Find slip displays application-specific c...

P R E F A C E xxi About This Book Newton 2.0 User Interface Guidelines describes how to create software products that optimize the interaction between people and devices that use Newton 2.0 software. The book explains the whys and hows of the Newton 2.0 interface in general terms and in specific det...

P R E F A C E xxii This book assumes you are familiar with the concepts and terminology used with Newton devices, and that you have used a Newton device and its standard applications. What’s in This Book This book begins with a chapter that describes Newton devices such as the Apple MessagePad, what...

P R E F A C E xxiii ■ Newton Toolkit User’s Guide. This book introduces the Newton Toolkit (NTK) development environment and shows how to develop Newton applications using Newton Toolkit. You should read this book first if you are a new Newton application developer. ■ Newton Book Maker User’s Guide....

P R E F A C E xxiv features all current versions of Apple development tools, as well as popular third-party development tools. APDA offers convenient payment and shipping options, including site licensing. To order product or to request a complimentary copy of the Apple Developer Catalog, use the fo...

Understand Newton 1-1 C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1 Before you can begin to design an application, it is crucial that you have a clear picture of what a Newton device can do and how people will use your Newton software. This chapter introduces some high-level concepts that will help you cla...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-2 Know Your Audience Newton is not a small portable computer with another graphical user interface. There may be similarities between portable computers and Newton devices, but the differences summarized below are more important than the similarities when it co...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Know Your Audience 1-3 using a step-by-step approach by thinking of how a person might get from one place to the next in a logical fashion. Involve users throughout the design process and observe them working in their environment. Use people who fit your audience...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-4 Observe Basic Human Interface Principles Make your application accessible to people around the world by including support for worldwide capabilities in your designs from the beginning of your development process. Take stock of the cultural and linguistic need...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-6 Observe Basic Human Interface Principles Direct Manipulation 1 Your product should let users feel that they are directly controlling something tangible, not abstract. Make sure objects on the screen remain visible while a user performs actions on them, and ma...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Observe Basic Human Interface Principles 1-7 Feedback 1 In addition to seeing the results of their actions, users need immediate feed-back when they operate controls and ongoing status reports during lengthy operations. Have your application respond to every user...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-8 Observe Basic Human Interface Principles You can make your application consistent visually and behaviorally by incorporating standard Newton interface elements in it. Visual consistency helps people learn and then easily recognize the graphic language of the ...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Observe Basic Human Interface Principles 1-9 Stability 1 Personal digital assistants introduce a new level of complexity for many people. To cope with this complexity, people need some stable reference points. The Newton interface is designed to provide an enviro...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-10 Design for the Newton System Design for the Newton System 1 In addition to the general user interface principles presented in the previous section, you should keep in mind the guidelines in this section as you design software specifically for the Newton syst...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Design for the Newton System 1-11 Keep Applications Simple 1 Newton isn’t designed for complex tasks or applications that require viewing a large area or multiple windows of data at a time. Applications that require the user to keep track of several pieces of inf...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Involve Users in the Design Process 1-13 Involve Users in the Design Process 1 The best way to make sure your product meets the needs of your target audience is to show it to the kinds of people you hope will buy it. Do they understand what it’s for and what to d...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-14 Involve Users in the Design Process Then look at how the Newton can facilitate the tasks. To help plan a task analysis, imagine a scenario in which someone uses your product. List each task a person might perform in that scenario, then break each task apart ...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Involve Users in the Design Process 1-15 more specific tasks. These tasks can be based on the task analyses that you performed earlier in the design process. After you determine which tasks to use, write them out as short, simple instructions. Your instructions t...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-16 Involve Users in the Design Process n “If we can locate the trouble spots, then we can go back and improve the product.” n “Remember, we’re testing the product, not you.” 2. Tell the participant that it’s OK to quit at any time. Never leave this step out. Ma...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users Involve Users in the Design Process 1-17 5. Explain that you will not provide help. It is very important that you allow participants to work with your product without any interference or extra help. This is the best way to see how people really interact with the ...

C H A P T E R 1 Newton and Its Users 1-18 Involve Users in the Design Process 7. Ask if there are any questions before you start; then begin the observation. 8. During the observation, remember several pointers: n Stay alert. It’s very easy to let your mind wander when you’re in the seventh hour of ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Look 2-3 When people manipulate container views on the screen, they see immediate visual feedback. As a user drags a movable container view, the view keeps up with the user’s pen, reinforcing the user’s sense of direct manipulation. When people open and clos...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-4 How Views Look Figure 2-2 Standard controls for manipulating views View Title 2 A container view should have a title at the top unless the view’s identity is obvious from its contents. Ordinarily a title consists of text in the bold style of the system font, an op...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-6 How Views Look View Border 2 Every container view is framed by a border. (A border is not visible if its view fills the screen.) Primarily, a view’s border serves to demarcate what’s in the view and what’s not. Secondarily, certain borders identify special types o...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Look 2-7 Striped Border 2 A border made of pairs of short, slanted lines edged by a thin black rectangle is used around views known as routing slips (see “Routing Slips” on page 7-12). It’s no accident that this border looks something like the border traditi...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-8 How Views Look Figure 2-6 An alert box has a thick wavy border Plain Border 2 For simplicity, some container views require a plain black border made of medium-weight lines. Figure 2-7 shows examples of views with plain borders. Figure 2-7 Some views need the simpl...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Main Views 2-9 reinforces the notion that there are two parts to a routing slip—an outer part above the shadow and an inner part below it. Figure 2-8 shows acceptable and unacceptable uses of shadows in the Newton interface. Figure 2-8 Sparing use of some types of sha...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-10 Main Views Applications are not limited to one main view. The built-in Names File and Date Book applications, for example, have several main views each. Title or Folder Tab 2 An application’s main view should have an ordinary, underlined title at the top unless t...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Main Views 2-11 Primary Controls and Status Bar 2 An application’s primary controls go at the bottom of its main view, usually on a status bar. A status bar is not strictly required, but it helps to visually anchor the controls. Figure 2-10 shows sample status bars wi...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Main Views 2-13 The Main View’s Border 2 Every application’s main view must have a border, even if the border is not visible because the view fills the screen. Generally, an application’s main view should have a rounded-corner matte border (as described under “View Bo...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-14 Auxiliary Views Auxiliary Views 2 When an application needs to display and input more information than will fit in its main view, it displays an auxiliary view. There are several types of auxiliary views, as shown in Figure 2-13 and detailed in the following sect...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Auxiliary Views 2-15 An auxiliary view appears in front of the view to which it is subordinate. For details on the customary position of a slip and the front-to-back ordering of views, “How Views Work” on page 2-28. Slips 2 The most common type of auxiliary view is ca...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Auxiliary Views 2-17 In the absence of a take-action button, a Close box means simply, “I’m done with this task.” Close boxes and text buttons are covered in Chapter 3, “Controls.” Input fields follow the guidelines given in Chapter 6, “Data Input.” Notification Alert...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-18 Auxiliary Views Figure 2-17 A Snooze button enables a user to dismiss an alert temporarily Before closing a notification alert, a user can tap the small circled i in the upper left corner to display the date and time at which the notification appeared. While any ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-20 Auxiliary Views Status Slips 2 When an application begins an operation that takes more than a few seconds to complete, the application should display a message describing its busy status. The application can display the status message in a view that’s already dis...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Auxiliary Views 2-21 A status slip does not take the place of the Newton busy cursor, which appears automatically at the top center of the screen when the system temporarily cannot respond to user input (see “Automatic Busy Cursor” on page 8-2). Your application shoul...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-22 Auxiliary Views Figure 2-20 A sequence of status messages traces the steps of an operation Progress Indicator 2 The progress indicator, if present in a status slip, can take different forms. It can be a simple “barber pole” gauge, which animates a set of diagonal...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Auxiliary Views 2-23 Figure 2-21 A gauge in a status slip measures elapsing progress Close, Stop, or Cancel 2 A status slip usually has a large Close box and a Stop button or Cancel button. Tapping the Stop button or Cancel button halts the operation that’s in progres...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-24 Auxiliary Views User Decision 2 Besides reporting on the progress of an ongoing operation, a status slip can report a condition that requires a user to choose one of two alternatives. This type of status slip contains an icon, a message of up to three lines, and ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-26 Drawers Drawers 2 A drawer is a container view that slides open and closed at the bottom of the screen or at the bottom of another container view. Figure 2-24 shows the Extras Drawer. Figure 2-24 A drawer slides open and closed A drawer can be used for the main v...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views Roll Views 2-27 Roll Views 2 In a roll view several discrete, fixed-size subviews are arranged one above another like pictures on a filmstrip. A roll view invariably contains more subviews than can be displayed in full detail at once. To see a subview that’s not curre...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-28 How Views Work How Views Work 2 Container views provide immediate feedback about actions a user may take, such as opening, closing, moving, and scrolling. The remainder of this chapter describes these behaviors. Opening Container Views 2 Opening a container view ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-29 The Backdrop 2 A Newton device always has at least one application open, and it is called the backdrop. The backdrop’s main view is at the bottom of the display order. The backdrop cannot be closed, so its main view has no Close box. For example, t...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-30 How Views Work Although modeless views give users more flexibility, modal views have the advantage of being less ambiguous. Nothing a user does in a modal view should take effect until the user taps a button to confirm the state of the modal view. A modal view av...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-31 If the main view is movable, your application should save its position before closing it, and should reopen it in the position at which the user left it. Keep users in control. Position of Auxiliary Views 2 When a user opens a slip, palette, or oth...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-32 How Views Work view does not get any pen input from outside the parent’s bounds. These restrictions have no practical effect on an auxiliary view that is attached to the root view instead of an application’s base view. Closing a View 2 Closing a container view ma...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-33 Closing a Slip 2 A user can close any slip except a confirmation alert by tapping the Close box at the slip’s lower right corner. The slip goes away, and the application accepts any changes a user made in the slip unless the slip has a take-action ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-34 How Views Work Figure 2-26 Dragging a view’s drag handle moves the view Changing a View’s Size 2 Your application determines the size of its views. It should base its view sizes on the screen size of the Newton device on which it is running, since Newton screens ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-36 How Views Work Scrolling 2 An application that deals with multiple instances of similar information—multiple notes in the Notepad, multiple names in the Name File, multiple days in the Date Book, and so on—can’t display all the instances at once in a single view....

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-37 Scrolling With Scroll Arrows 2 A user scrolls information in a view by tapping scroll arrows on a Newton device. Scroll arrows always come in pairs, each arrow pointing away from the other and toward information that is currently hidden. Tapping an...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-38 How Views Work Each tap on a scroll arrow moves one unit in the chosen direction. Your application determines how much one unit is. For example, the Notepad moves one note for each tap on the arrow; for a note longer than the view, each tap scrolls the number of ...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-39 Figure 2-31 The universal scroll arrows at the bottom of a MessagePad screen Any view can have its scrolling controlled by user taps on the universal scroll arrows, but they only affect one of the open views. To be affected, a view must meet two re...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-43 Automatic Scrolling 2 In the discussions of scrolling behavior and appearance in the previous sections, the user controls scrolling by deciding which scroll arrow to use and how long to use it. Most of the time the user should be in control, but so...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-44 How Views Work Scrolling Performance 2 Scrolling the contents of a view can sometimes seem slow. Here are some techniques you can use to improve scrolling speed: ■ Implement the accelerated scrolling behavior described in “Local Scroll Arrows” on page 2-39. ■ Scr...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-46 How Views Work on the selected items with controls in the status bar, such as a Filing button or Action button (see “Primary Controls and Status Bar” on page 2-11). A gray line separates checkboxes from data items. If an overview lists items that users may have f...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-47 Switching to and from an Overview 2 To see an overview, a user taps the Newton device’s Overview button. The detail item that was displayed should either be centered in the overview or at the top of the overview. Figure 2-39 shows the change when a...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views 2-48 How Views Work displayed, causes the normal view of the tapped name to appear; but tapping the right part of the line, where the telephone number is displayed, initiates a phone call. If an application spends more than a few seconds preparing an overview, it shou...

C H A P T E R 2 Container Views How Views Work 2-49 Closing an Overview 2 Tapping the Close box has the same effect whether a view is displaying item detail or an overview—the application closes. Tapping a Close box in an overview does not switch to item detail. Nonfunctional Scroll and Overview Con...

3-1 C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3 Controls are graphic objects that cause instant actions or audible results when the user manipulates them with the pen. Some controls change settings that modify future actions. Other controls allow users to make choices or to assign parameters in a range. Controls dis...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-2 Buttons Buttons 3 A button is a small graphic object that performs an action when tapped. The action that the button performs is described by text or a picture on the button, as shown in Figure 3-1. Figure 3-1 Tapping a button initiates an action Text Buttons 3 A text bu...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Buttons 3-3 Text Button Sizes 3 A text button should be the same height as the large Close box (described under “Close Boxes” on page 3-14) and wide enough for its name to fit centered on one line in the bold style of the system font. Make the button wide enough to leave as ...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-4 Buttons If your application has buttons whose names change during the operation of the application, the application must resize the button when its name changes so that the spacing always conforms to the guidelines. Naming Text Buttons 3 Keep button names short. Never us...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Buttons 3-7 Picture Buttons 3 A picture button is a small picture (an icon) that represents the button’s function. The picture is usually bordered by a rounded rectangle, like a text button with a picture instead of a text name. Figure 3-7 shows several picture buttons. Figu...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-8 Buttons its picture has an unbroken line around it—a sort of self-border. Figure 3-8 shows where you should omit picture button borders and where you should keep the borders. Figure 3-8 Where to use borders with small, self-bordered picture buttons Designing Picture Butt...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Buttons 3-9 Button Behavior 3 Although text buttons and picture buttons look different, their basic behavior is the same. Both types of buttons provide similar feedback to the user, and an application disables both types the same way. Button Feedback 3 When a user taps a tex...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-10 Buttons the pen on the screen, the button becomes unhighlighted. The button tracks the pen movement as long as the user keeps pressing the pen. If the user slides the pressed pen back over the button, it is highlighted again. If the user lifts the pen while the pointer ...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Buttons 3-11 A button can disappear and reappear with no visual effect or with a subtle visual effect such as zoom closed and zoom open. Generally, buttons should not flash as they appear. Visual effects that attract the eye virtually compel immediate action, as if they were...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-12 Buttons Figure 3-11 Where to put buttons in a view Button Spacing 3 Group text and picture buttons with similar functions together. Users assume buttons near each other are related. Generally, buttons that directly control or take action are on the right, and buttons th...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-14 Close Boxes Large Buttons 3 If a user needs to be able to tap some text buttons or picture buttons in your application with a finger instead of a pen, you can use large buttons. If your large buttons won’t fit at the bottom of a view, it’s OK to put them along one side ...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Close Boxes 3-15 Always put the Close box or large Close box in the bottom right corner of the container view it closes. Where to Use a Regular Close Box 3 The contents of a container view determine whether it should have a Close box or large Close box. A large Close box loo...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-16 Radio Buttons picture buttons, but do not use a large Close box in a slip with an OK or Yes button. Instead, use a Cancel button (see “Naming Cancel- and Stop-Action Buttons” on page 3-5). Figure 3-16 shows where to use a large Close box and where not to use one. Figure...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-18 Checkboxes To operate a radio button the user can tap any part of it, including the text or picture that identifies it. Tapping one button in a cluster turns off whichever button was on before. A cluster of radio buttons must contain at least two items. Instead of using...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-20 Sliders the user may briefly ponder the significance of changing the checkbox’s state. For example, a checkbox in a fax routing slip lets a user select fine resolution or not. This option could be implemented with two radio buttons, perhaps labeled “Fine” and “Standard....

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Hot Spots 3-21 Figure 3-20 A slider used for data input Hot Spots 3 Some views need to have many small, unnamed controls that respond like buttons when tapped. For example, a view that contains a map might respond to a user tapping a place on the map by displaying informatio...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-22 Standard Newton Buttons Figure 3-21 Providing feedback for small, transparent hot spots Of course, sometimes the whole point of hot spots is to make users guess where to tap. Secret hot spots would be fine in maps meant to teach geography by exploration, for example. In...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Standard Newton Buttons 3-23 Other specific controls defined by the Newton system are described elsewhere. For descriptions of scroll arrows and the overview button, see “Scrolling” on page 2-36and “Overview” on page 2-44. The Undo button is described in “Error Correction” o...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-24 Standard Newton Buttons Figure 3-23 Where an Info button goes Recognizer Button 3 A Recognizer button lets users control the system’s recognition of handwriting and drawing. An application’s main view should have a Recognizer button to the right of the Info button on it...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Standard Newton Buttons 3-25 Tapping a Recognizer button pops up the Recognizer picker, which is described in “User Control of Recognition” on page 6-16. For more information on recognition of handwriting and drawing, see “Recognition” on page 6-15. Keyboard Button 3 A Keybo...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-26 Standard Newton Buttons New Button 3 A New button lets users create a new data item and to specify the format of the item, such as a new note, checklist, or outline in the built-in Notepad application. If users can create new data items in your application, it should ha...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Standard Newton Buttons 3-27 Filing Button 3 A Filing button lets users designate a folder and a storage location (if more than one is available) for data that’s currently displayed. How much data is affected depends on where the Filing button is located. If the Filing butto...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-28 Standard Newton Buttons card, the Filing button contains a small black triangle. If the item is stored internally, the Filing button contains nothing. Figure 3-30 compares the two states of the Filing button. Figure 3-30 A Filing button reports where a data item is stor...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls Standard Newton Buttons 3-29 Figure 3-31 Where an Action button goes Tapping an Action button pops up the Action picker, which is described on page 4-26. For general information about sending and receiving data, see Chapter 7, “Routing and Communications.” Item Info Button 3...

C H A P T E R 3 Controls 3-30 Standard Newton Buttons Figure 3-32 Seeing an Item Info slip If a user scrolls an item’s separator bar out of view while its Item Info slip is displayed, the Item Info slip closes automatically and does not reopen automatically if the user scrolls the separator bar back...

4-1 C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4 A picker is a black-bordered, unmovable view that pops up in response to a user action, such as tapping a button, label, or hot spot. A picker contains a set of items such as commands, attributes, states, or application data. The items may be presented as a simple list,...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-2 List Pickers List Pickers 4 As its name suggests, a list picker presents users with a list of items from which to choose. This section describes the following aspects of list pickers: ■ what list pickers can contain ■ how the items can be organized ■ where list pickers ca...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers List Pickers 4-3 A list picker does not include a title because the picker ’s context should make its purpose clear. The picker may contain scroll arrows, a Close box, and other controls as described in “Using a List Picker” on page 4-9. Check Marks 4 A check mark ( ✔ ) has s...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-4 List Pickers You use different parts of speech to name items in a list picker, depending on what effect they have when the user picks one. For picker items that act as commands, use verbs (or verb phrases) that declare the action that will occur when the user picks the it...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers List Pickers 4-5 Figure 4-2 A list picker can contain a two-dimensional table of items Unavailable Items 4 An application may need to make some of a list picker ’s items available only in certain contexts. To make items unavailable, an application should remove them from the ...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-6 List Pickers Applications should not attempt to imitate the interface of personal computers by dimming unavailable picker items. Although applications can designate picker items as unselectable, the system does not display them in gray text or otherwise make them visibly ...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers List Pickers 4-7 Figure 4-4 Grouping items in list pickers For general grouping of items in a picker, you should only use a dotted separator line, never a solid separator line. The solid separator line is reserved for setting apart choices related to storage, such as the name...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-8 List Pickers Figure 4-5 Pickers can pop up from buttons, labels, and hot spots For picker control at the bottom of a view or on the status bar, use text or picture buttons. Elsewhere in a view, label pickers usually look best. Position of List Pickers 4 A list picker that...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers List Pickers 4-9 Figure 4-6 How a list picker should align with its label or button If you want your application to work when a user rotates the display (with the Extras Drawer ’s Rotate button), your application may need to make picker alignment dependent on screen size. Usi...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers List Pickers 4-11 If a user touches a picker list and slides the pen instead of lifting it, the picker tracks the pen movement. As the pen appears over an item in the list, the item is highlighted. When the user lifts the pen within the list, the currently high-lighted item b...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers List Pickers 4-13 Scrolling pickers are harder to use than pickers that don’t scroll, because users have to remember the picker items that aren’t currently visible. You should keep your pickers short and avoid scrolling pickers in your applications. Index Tabs 4 If the list o...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-14 List Pickers Hierarchical List Pickers 4 If a list of picker items is extremely long, index tabs won’t be enough to prevent interminable scrolling. What happens is a user taps a tab and immediately sees the beginning of the corresponding section of picker items, but the ...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-16 Number Picker Number Picker 4 A number picker displays a number that a user can change by tapping the digits of the number itself. The digits are large and are split into top and bottom halves to make them easy for users to target. Tapping the top half of a digit increas...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers Date and Time Pickers 4-17 Date and Time Pickers 4 The system includes pickers for specifying a time, a date, a date and time, a start and stop time, a start and stop date, or a time offset. Each of these pickers pops up when a user taps its label, which begins with a diamond...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers Overview Pickers 4-19 Overview Pickers 4 Like list pickers, overview pickers can pop up in response to a user tapping a text label or button marked with a black diamond, a picture button, or a hot spot. And overview pickers, like list pickers, are used to present a user with ...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-20 Overview Pickers Figure 4-15 The parts of overview pickers In most cases, your application is not responsible for the wording, punctua-tion, or capitalization of items in either column of an overview picker. Nor is your application responsible for the order of the items....

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers Overview Pickers 4-21 Using an Overview Picker 4 A user makes an overview picker appear by tapping the appropriate label. The picker stays open until the user taps its Close box. The user does not have to press and hold the pen on the button or label to keep the picker open. ...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-22 Overview Pickers Figure 4-16 Entering a new value in an overview picker When a user closes an overview picker, the selected item or items are customarily displayed next to the picker label. The label and the value are customarily aligned at their baselines. The value sho...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers Standard Newton Pickers 4-23 Users can also scroll overview pickers with the universal scroll arrows. In addition, users can scroll overview pickers by dragging from the middle of the picker past the top or bottom of the picker. Creating New Items 4 When the item a user wants...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers 4-24 Standard Newton Pickers Info Picker 4 The Info picker pops up from the standard Info button at the left end of the status bar and gives users access to preference settings for the application, general information about the application, or on-screen help for the applicati...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers Standard Newton Pickers 4-25 Choosing Help from an Info picker displays online help for the application. For more information, see “Help” on page 8-28. Choosing Prefs from an Info picker displays a slip containing application-specific preference settings. For more information...

Show Picker 4 The Show picker lists alternative views for displaying data in an application, such as the Card view and All Info view in the built-in Names File applica-tion. In an application that supports Newton stationery, the Show picker lists all the available views for types of data that the ap...

C H A P T E R 4 Pickers Standard Newton Pickers 4-27 Figure 4-20 The Action picker lists commands for acting on data Picking a routing command from an Action picker starts the routing process, which is detailed in Chapter 7, “Routing and Communications.” Picking the Duplicate command, if the Action ...

Designing Effective Icons 5-1 C H A P T E R 5 Icons 5 This chapter describes how to design icons—those small pictographs that represent objects or actions in the Newton interface. Topics covered include: ■ Designing effective icons ■ Extras Drawer icons ■ Icons in titles ■ Icons in buttons ■ Icons i...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons 5-2 Designing Effective Icons Thinking Up an Icon Image 5 An icon is like the proverbial picture that’s worth a thousand words only if it clearly identifies what it represents. Coming up with a tiny, grainy, black-and-white visual image that is even relevant, let alone unambigu...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons Designing Effective Icons 5-3 deleting. Thinking of an object that is representative of the function of your icon is the key to good conceptual design. Remember that for every image you generate, you need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the idea in regard to you...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons 5-4 Designing Effective Icons that display only black and white (no shades of gray or colors), particularly in the smaller icon sizes. Newton icons do not have drop shadows. There is no assumed light source to create an artificial shadow. Avoid Text in Icons 5 Avoid using text ...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons Designing Effective Icons 5-5 Figure 5-3 Small icon resembles large icon Use Icons Consistently 5 Use icons consistently throughout your application. If there is an existing design for an icon, use it. Don’t invent new designs for icons that have a standard design, such as the ...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons 5-6 Extras Drawer Icons Think About Multicultural Compatibility 5 Your icons should be designed with multicultural use in mind. For example, to localize an icon for outgoing communications, you might consider using the design of a mailbox. But if you did, you would have to desi...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons 5-8 Extras Drawer Icons Extras Drawer Icon Size 5 To maximize the number of icons visible at once, the Extras Drawer puts very little space between the icons in it. An application icon will be easier to recognize if it does not occupy all the space available to it in the Extras...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons Extras Drawer Icons 5-9 Extras Drawer Icon Shape 5 Icons for Newton applications generally should not look like icons for desktop computer applications. Boxy icons are common on desktop computers, where colors and shades of gray can distinguish one icon from another. In the New...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons Title Icons 5-11 Figure 5-8 Combining an icon with its mask to animate the icon If you don’t provide a mask for your application’s icon, the Extras Drawer automatically creates one that is an all-black shadow of the icon. An all-black shadow mask combines with an icon to create...

C H A P T E R 5 Icons 5-12 Button Icons Button Icons 5 You can use an icon to label a button. For example, the Action button and the Filing button have icons as labels. The button may have a border or not, depending on the icon design and the button location (see “Picture Buttons” on page 3-7). Figu...

Input Fields 6-1 C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6 Although some applications for Newton devices only present information to people, many applications gather data from people as well. A person can input information in a Newton application by ■ Tapping and dragging to select an input from a list or range ...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Tapping 6-3 Tapping 6 People can quickly and accurately input data that an application presents in a multiple-choice format such as a picker, scrolling list, set of checkboxes, cluster of radio buttons, or slider. A user simply taps or drags to choose an input value from t...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-4 Tapping Figure 6-2 How a picker works for data input For more information on pickers, see Chapter 4, “Pickers.” Scrolling Lists and Tables 6 Like a picker, a scrolling list is a list of items from which a user selects a field value. A scrolling list does not usually sh...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-8 Writing, Drawing, and Editing Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6 In some places users can’t be restricted to multiple-choice input methods. They must be able to input their own text or shapes (pictures). The Newton interface includes several elements in which users can wr...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-9 ■ Editing Let users edit text — select, delete, copy-and-paste, duplicate, and move. ■ Formatting Let users format individual words and characters in several different fonts, styles, and sizes. Where there is space to write paragraphs of t...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-10 Writing, Drawing, and Editing Labeled Input Line 6 A labeled input line consists of a simple input line with a text label at its left. Optionally this label can have a pop-up picker that lists common values, and a user can choose one to save the effort of writing it. ...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-11 Text Input Lines that Expand 6 You can reduce the amount of space required for several stacked input lines in your application by using expanding input lines, which are called expandos. Each expando consists of a text label to the left an...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-12 Writing, Drawing, and Editing Paragraph Input 6 Another interface element accepts the input of multiple lines or paragraphs of text. This interface element can appear simply as a blank area in which a user can write information, but usually it contains one or more hor...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-13 Figure 6-11 A user can rearrange a structured list by dragging topic markers Shape Input 6 There is one interface element for the input of geometric shapes. It can be a blank area in which users can draw, or it can contain dotted lines to...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-14 Writing, Drawing, and Editing Figure 6-12 Interface element for shape input ■ Editing Let users edit shapes — select, delete, copy-and-paste, duplicate, reshape, resize, and move. ■ Formatting Let users set the line thickness of individual shapes and shape segments. G...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-16 Writing, Drawing, and Editing You don’t need to do anything in your application to handle ordinary recog-nition. The Newton system’s input interface elements handle recognition of writing and drawing, including a method for users to correct misrecognized words. For ex...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-18 Writing, Drawing, and Editing Deferred Recognition 6 A user can defer text recognition by selecting Ink Text from a Recognizer picker. While recognition is set to Ink Text, the Newton system recognizes word boundaries but does not recognize words, letters, numbers, or...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-19 an Alpha Sorter picker if a user writes ink text in the Name field (which determines the card’s sequence). If your application simply sorts ink text with recognized text, the ink text comes before the recognized text that comes first alph...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-22 Writing, Drawing, and Editing ■ Remove extra space from paragraphs ■ Duplicate text or shapes ■ Change shapes ■ Move objects The techniques people use for these editing actions are described in the next 12 sections (ending with “Moving Objects” on page 6-32). To make ...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-24 Writing, Drawing, and Editing objects that the user has not selected may appear within the borders of the gray selection box, but only the selected objects are highlighted. Erasing Text or Shapes 6 To erase text or shapes, a user scrubs them out with zigzag gestures. ...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-26 Writing, Drawing, and Editing Joining Words 6 To join words, a user draws a V between them at their baselines, as shown in Figure 6-20. Figure 6-20 Joining two words Breaking Paragraphs 6 To break one paragraph into two, a user draws a backwards L at the desired break...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-27 Figure 6-22 Inserting space in text Inserting New Text 6 When a caret is displayed in an input area, it marks the point where the Newton system will insert newly written words. No matter where a user writes in the input area, the Newton s...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-29 Replacing Text 6 By extending the method for inserting text, a user can replace existing text. Instead of tapping to position the caret, the user drags the highlighting mark to select the text to replace. Then the user writes the replacem...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Writing, Drawing, and Editing 6-31 Changing Capitalization of Text 6 To change how a word is capitalized, a user selects the word and then draws a vertical line over it. Drawing the line in an upward direction over the first letter of the word capitalizes that letter. Draw...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-32 Typing Moving Objects 6 A user can move an object—text, ink text, sketch, shape, or a combination of them—by selecting the object and then dragging it to another part of the same input area or to another visible input area. The user can also drag the selected object t...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Typing 6-33 Displaying Keyboards 6 There are several ways users can display a keyboard. One is to double-tap any blank space in a text-input area. Another is to double-tap a word to bring up a Correction picker and then tap the keyboard in that picker (as described under “...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-34 Typing Figure 6-29 A keyboard can be embedded in a data-input slip Keyboard Position 6 When a user brings up a keyboard it should appear centered above the status bar, floating above other views. If possible, the keyboard should be situated vertically where it does no...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Typing 6-35 Return 6 In a field that allows entering multiple lines of text, the return key inserts a carriage return at the text-insertion caret. It ends the current paragraph and moves the caret to the beginning of the next line. In a field that allows entering one line ...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-36 Typing and other nonalphabetic keys. The caps key locks on when tapped and stays on until tapped again; even closing a keyboard does not turn off the caps key. Option 6 The option key changes the character produced by the next tap on a character key to produce a set o...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input Error Handling 6-37 When a user holds the pen on a key for a certain amount of time, the system acts as if the user were repeatedly tapping that key. This feature, called auto-repeat, affects character keys and modifier keys alike. Auto-repeat does not function during type...

C H A P T E R 6 Data Input 6-38 Error Handling When a user initiates an action that can’t be undone and could be very difficult to reverse by hand, your application should warn the user and give the user a chance to cancel the action. For example, if a user is about to change a lot of text with a se...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-2 The In/Out Box ■ How users route incoming data items ■ When and how transports should display status information ■ When and how transports should allow users to stop an ongoing transfer of data items ■ How transports should provide user preference setti...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications The In/Out Box 7-3 Figure 7-1 The In/Out Box application displays either the In Box or the Out Box The In Box 7 The In Box is where a user first sees and deals with incoming faxes, e-mail, beamed items, and other data items received by Newton transport soft...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-4 The In/Out Box The Out Box 7 The Out Box holds data items coming from all applications and waiting to be printed, faxed, beamed, e-mailed, or sent by other Newton transport software. Items in the Out Box stay there until a user physically connects the N...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications The In/Out Box 7-5 Viewing Items in the In/Out Box 7 Users can see more than just header information for some types of items in the In/Out Box. For example, the In/Out Box can show a page preview of print and fax items. It can also show item detail in views...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-6 The In/Out Box If applications provide multiple view templates for the type of data currently on display in the In/Out Box application, the In/Out Box includes a Show button and picker, so users can choose among the available views. For example, when a ...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Outgoing Items 7-7 Figure 7-3 Viewing routing information in an Item Info slip Routing Outgoing Items 7 There are several steps involved in sending an item from an application through the Out Box to an output device. First, a user chooses a routing ...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-8 Routing Outgoing Items Action Button and Picker 7 Users can send items from any application that has an Action button, which is a picture button that looks like the back of an envelope. To send the currently selected data item, a user picks a routing ac...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Outgoing Items 7-9 An Action Button’s Location 7 The scope of an Action button determines where it should be located. If an Action button can affect all the data in a view, it should go at the bottom right corner of the view, next to the view’s Clos...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-10 Routing Outgoing Items In a view where an Action button can only affect one data item of several that may be displayed (perhaps by scrolling the view), there should be an Action button above each item, at the right side of the view. Generally, such a v...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Outgoing Items 7-11 Figure 7-7 An Action picker can include two kinds of actions Note that the first action listed in an Action picker has the name of the target item appended to it (for example, “Print Note”). Other actions listed in the same picke...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-12 Routing Outgoing Items In addition to putting transports and transport groups at the top of an Action picker, the system puts application-defined actions at the bottom of the picker. An application can define actions that appear in all its Action picke...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Outgoing Items 7-13 Figure 7-8 A routing slip shows sender, recipient, and type of transport The system animates the display of a routing slip. First the envelope panel appears to slide onto the screen from the right. Then the lower panel appears to...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Outgoing Items 7-15 Recipient Pickers 7 The kind of recipient information displayed in the center of a routing slip envelope depends on the kind of transport involved. For printing, the recipient is the model or name of the printer to use. For faxin...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-16 Routing Outgoing Items Figure 7-10 Choosing a printer in a routing slip Choosing Fax or E-mail Recipients 7 The recipient in a fax or e-mail routing slip is a picker label. Tapping it pops up a picker that lists names a user has recently chosen, along ...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-18 Routing Outgoing Items The very first time a user taps the recipient in a fax or e-mail routing slip, the picker that lists recently used names does not appear because no names have been used yet. Instead, a People picker appears immediately, listing p...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-20 Routing Outgoing Items Other Routing Slip Elements 7 A routing slip’s lower panel may have additional controls and pickers that affect what is sent and how it is sent. The system includes a Format picker if there is more than one format for the class o...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Outgoing Items 7-23 Each time a routing slip opens, the system initially sets the format to the format most recently used for the transport and class of data. If the class of data has never been routed through the transport before, the system makes ...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-24 Routing Incoming Items Sending Out Box Items 7 Items a user chooses to send later (as described in “Send Button and Close Box” on page 7-18) wait in the Out Box until the user is ready to have the transports transfer the items out of the Newton device....

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Incoming Items 7-25 Receiving In Box Items 7 To receive items, a user can pick a routing action from the In Box’s Receive picker, which pops up when the user taps the Receive button. The Receive picker lists all Newton transports capable of receivin...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-26 Routing Incoming Items Figure 7-19 Connection setup varies by transport A transport can also allow users to schedule times when it automatically connects and receives incoming items. Users schedule connect times by setting preferences in the In/Out Box...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Incoming Items 7-27 action from the Tag picker, which pops up when the user taps the Tag button. The Tag picker lists only actions that apply to at least one of the selected items. Figure 7-20 shows a sample Tag button and Tag picker. Figure 7-20 Th...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-28 Routing Incoming Items of the built-in applications registers to accept page-image data like faxes, and the built-in fax transport does not include a method for putting away items it receives, so the Tag picker does not include a Put Away action when a...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Status 7-29 Extending the Tag Picker 7 A transport can add actions to the Tag picker. For example, an e-mail transport might add the actions Reply and Forward so users could reply to and forward received e-mail directly from the In Box. The built-in...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Stopping a Send or Receive in Progress 7-31 Transports can dynamically switch from one type of status slip to another without closing the status slip, and can easily update the contents of the status slip as well (for example, updating a progress indicator)...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-32 Transport Preferences Transport Preferences 7 The Newton system stores user-configurable preferences and other configura-tion information for the built-in transports, and can do the same for custom transports. The stored preferences correspond to items...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-34 Routing Alternatives A preferences slip can also include an Info button in the lower left corner. Tapping it pops up an Info picker that lists at least the one item Help. Generally, picking Help from this Info picker simply displays the system help boo...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications Routing Alternatives 7-35 Another way users can route items through most transports is with the Intelligent Assistant. In addition, applications can route items program-matically. These two routing methods are described in more detail in the remainder of th...

C H A P T E R 7 Routing and Communications 7-36 Routing Alternatives Programmed Sending 7 An application can send an item programmatically, using a specific transport, without any user intervention. (The Action button is not used in this case.) For example, an application might have a transport make...

8-1 C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8 This chapter describes the user interface for Newton system services not described in other chapters. Topics include: ■ How the system automatically indicates it is busy ■ How your application or transport can allow users to hide and show status slips ■ What you...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-2 Automatic Busy Cursor Automatic Busy Cursor 8 The system lets users know when it is temporarily busy and may be unable to respond to their input by displaying a small graphic, called the busy cursor, at the top of the screen. Your application or transport does not...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-4 Alarms When a user chooses an action or alert from the Notify picker, the Notify service automatically removes the chosen item from the picker. If your application or transport completes an action listed in the Notify picker, it must remove the action from the Not...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Alarms 8-5 The Snooze button is optional. Your application can use a plain notification alert without a Snooze button (see “Notification Alerts” on page 2-17) or no notification alert at all. Unacknowledged Alarms 8 Your application does not have to do anything to han...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-6 Sound A user sets the volume of alarm sounds in the Alarm section of the Prefs application. Your application should not change the alarm volume set by the user. Sound 8 Your application can easily associate a sound with a system event or play sound on demand. Each...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Find 8-7 Figure 8-5 A standard Find slip specifies what to find and where to look The standard Find slip contains a labeled input line used to specify a search criterion and several radio buttons used to specify the scope of the search. The labeled input line has a pi...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-8 Find Date Searches 8 Date searches find items dated before, after, or on the date specified in the Find slip. To specify a date, a user taps the date shown in the Find slip. This pops up a standard Date picker, as shown in Figure 8-7. Figure 8-7 Specifying a date ...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Find 8-9 the system is to conduct a search. The Find slip in Figure 8-8 depicts a search for the word “Daphne” in the Notepad and Dates applications. Figure 8-8 Searching specified applications Normally the Find service searches applications in their entirety, but the...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Find 8-11 Initiating or Canceling a Search 8 After using the Find slip to specify the search criteria, a user initiates the search by tapping the Find button. Alternatively, the user can cancel the search by tapping the Close box to dismiss the Find slip. Search Statu...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Filing 8-13 Figure 8-12 The Find slip reports which found item is currently displayed If more than one item was found, tapping the universal down arrow goes to the next found item, and tapping the universal up arrow goes to the previous found item. Tapping the Overvie...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-14 Filing Filed data items look to a user like they are in folders, but filed items do not actually reside in a folder or directory structure. Instead, the Filing service tags a filed item to identify the folder in which it belongs. When a user wishes to see an appl...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Filing 8-15 The filing options that a user selects in a Filing slip apply to the data in the view that contains the Filing button. If the view contains multiple data items that can be individually selected, such as the items listed in an overview, then the filing opti...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-16 Filing In a view where a Filing button can affect only one data item of several that may be displayed in the view (perhaps by scrolling the view), there should be a Filing button above each item, at the right side of the view. Generally such a view has a separato...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-18 Filing In addition to radio buttons for selecting filing options, all Filing slips have a File button for initiating the filing operation and a large Close box for canceling the filing operation. Editing Folders 8 If a Filing slip contains radio buttons for selec...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Filing 8-19 Figure 8-17 Slips for entering and editing folder names Users can create up to 12 folders visible everywhere and 12 more folders specific to each application. The system does not permit an application-specific folder to have the same name as a folder that ...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-22 Intelligent Assistant Intelligent Assistant 8 The Intelligent Assistant is a system service that attempts to complete actions specified by a user ’s written input. You can think of the Assistant as an alternate interface to Newton applications and services. The A...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Intelligent Assistant 8-23 Figure 8-22 The Assist button makes the Assistant try a written action request Interpreting the Request Phrase 8 The Assistant can attempt to complete an action only if it can construe one from the phrase the user writes or selects before ta...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-24 Intelligent Assistant The Assistant matches words regardless of their capitalization. For example, it considers the word “phone” to be the same as the word “Phone.” The order in which a user writes words is not significant. For example, the phrase “Royce fax” pro...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Intelligent Assistant 8-27 In addition to the Please picker and an input line, an Assist slip has a How Do I? button in the lower left corner for accessing the Newton online help service (see “Help” on page 8-28). In the lower right corner of an Assist slip are a Do b...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-28 Help Besides providing a means of correcting missing or ambiguous information, a task slip also gives a user one last chance to confirm or cancel execution of the task before the Assistant actually takes action. It’s especially important to provide this opportuni...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Help 8-29 Users can also access the built-in help by choosing Help from the Info picker in any built-in application. When accessed through an Info picker, the help overview appears with the appropriate outline topic already expanded. Likewise, your application gives u...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services 8-30 Preferences Preferences 8 Users can see and change two types of preference settings: system-wide and application-specific. System-wide Preferences 8 A user accesses system-wide preferences through the built-in Prefs application. Its main view lists preference cat...

C H A P T E R 8 Newton Services Preferences 8-31 Application Preferences 8 Applications provide access to their preference settings through the Info picker (see “Info Picker” on page 4-24). When a user chooses Prefs from an Info picker, the application displays a preferences slip in which the user c...

A P P E N D I X Avoiding Common Mistakes A-2 Picker Placement and Alignment A Align the top of a picker with the top of its button or label. Make exceptions for overview pickers, for other very wide or very tall pickers, or for small screens. See page 4-8. Display a picker so its button or label is ...

A P P E N D I X Avoiding Common Mistakes A-3 Button Size A Make every text button 13 pixels high and center the button’s name vertically. Make the button just wide enough that with the button’s name horizontally centered there are three or four pixels between the name and the button’s left and right...

A P P E N D I X Avoiding Common Mistakes A-4 Fonts A Use fonts carefully. For the voice of the system and application use the bold style of the System font in 9- or 10-point sizes. For values a user can change use Casual 10- and 12-point. (Those are the fonts that are preset by the system protos.) K...

A P P E N D I X Avoiding Common Mistakes A-5 Storage A Allow users to move your application’s data between storage locations with the Filing button in the Extras Drawer ’s status bar. This is the method used by the built-in applications. See page 8-14. Date and Time Input A To input dates and times ...

GL-1 Glossary 9 alert box A view that appears on the screen to warn the user or report an error. alert sound An audible warning from the Newton’s speaker that warns the user of an unusual or potentially undesirable situation. An alert sound may or may not be accompanied by a notification slip. appli...

G L O S S A R Y GL-2 busy cursor A graphical signal that the system displays automatically while it is temporarily unable to process user input. button A small graphic object that performs an action when tapped. See also picture button and text button. button bar A thick black line with buttons on i...

G L O S S A R Y GL-4 Extras Drawer A built-in container view that displays named picture buttons a user can tap to open applications. field One item of data input. Also, the place in a container view where a user can input a data item by tapping, typing, writing, or drawing. floating container view ...

G L O S S A R Y GL-5 Item Info slip A slip that reports statistics for an item headed by a separator bar. The statistics include the item’s title, type, creation date, size, and storage location. A user can change an item’s title in the Item Info slip. ink text Words written in electronic ink. input...

G L O S S A R Y GL-6 Notepad The built-in application for taking and organizing notes, which may contain text and drawings. notification slip A view that appears on the screen to warn the user or to report an error. A notification slip may or may not be accompanied by an alert sound. output Informat...

G L O S S A R Y GL-8 slider A control with a marker that indicates an amount, degree, or value in relation to a range of possible values. The user can adjust the setting by dragging the marker on a slider. Compare to gauge. slip A matte-framed container view that an application displays to get detai...

G L O S S A R Y GL-9 user interface The rules and conventions by which a device communicates and interacts with the person operating it. word wrap The automatic continuation of text from the end of one line to the beginning of the next without breaking in the middle of a word.

IN-1 Index A About box 4-24accessibility 1-3action ongoing 2-23routing 7-8 Action button 3-28, 7-8Action picker application commands in 7-10, 7-12building 7-11contents 7-10purpose 4-26, 7-8separator line in 7-10transports in 7-10 active application 2-29aesthetic integrity, as design principle 1-9Ala...