Developing Windows Vista Applications for the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) (Cont.) UMPC Design Guidelines In order to present the suggested means to creating an optimized UMPC application, Microsoft has published a set of general guidelines on the Web for Mobile PC applications that has a section specifically targeted at the UMPC platform. You’ll find these guidelines available in the Mobile PC section of the Win32 and COM section of MSDN. You can also find them through the Mobile PC Developer Center, http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobilepc. To save you from having to search the Web, I’ve included the seven major areas in the guidelines below: Designing a Great Ultra-Mobile PC User Experience At minimum, your Ultra-Mobile PC application should do the following: | " |
Since the UMPC is running Windows Vista and the Tablet and Touch Technology is built-in, you can add ink and gesture functionality to an application without having to redistribute additional dependencies.
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Be easy to use and fully functional in the absence of a standard input device, such as a mouse and keyboard. Present information in such a way that users can digest it at a glance. Avoid an overly dense user interface. Launch and run in full-screen mode. Provide exit control while in full-screen mode. Run in both portrait and landscape modes. Ensure that all user interface elements are visible and unclipped at 800 x 480. Ensure that dialog box height is less than 480 pixels. Be designed for multiple resolutions and display sizes. Ensure that user interface elements scale to accommodate a range of display sizes and typical display resolutions. Disable or eliminate all user interface elements that are not required for a specific task, including captions and status bars. User Experience Design Principles The Ultra-Mobile PC is particularly well-suited for applications that emphasize content consumption over content creation and that give users spontaneous and precise command and control. Quick, simple, and direct access to rich and engaging content is the hallmark of a great Ultra-Mobile PC user experience. Design Principles Use the set of high-level design principles in Table 1 to address user scenarios and guide feature development for Ultra-Mobile PC software. Additional Recommendations Use a mode that incorporates full-screen displays and asks users to accomplish one task at a time. Invest extra time to create a well-designed, complete user interface. Design applications that encourage personalization. Investigate opportunities for extending the user experience through specialized hardware. Optimize the application for touch interaction. Optimizing Touch Command and Control A well-designed Ultra-Mobile PC user interface provides users simple, direct, and reliable touch interaction. Design and organize touch targets, such as buttons and links, in such a way as to maximize legibility, accessibility, and precision. Touch Target Recommendations Make touch targets at least 1 cm x 1 cm. Scale targets to accommodate a range of display sizes and resolutions. Space targets sufficiently to ensure an accurate interaction layer. Ensure that your target's graphics maintain legibility. Keep in mind that graphics don't have to fill an entire target area in order to maintain legibility. Ensure that targets are not obscured by the finger or hand when the user is interacting with the display. Provide larger targets when your application will be used in limited attention scenarios, such as driving or walking. Create an aesthetically organized touch experience by grouping targets by related functionality. Avoid placing targets at the edges of the display, where touch targeting can be difficult. Targets that are positioned at the edge of the display should have additional buffering so they can't be moved off the display. Designing for Keyboard-free Scenarios While some Ultra-Mobile PCs have built-in keyboards, and all are keyboard-extensible, you shouldn't assume that users will always have access to a conventional keyboard. Even when a keyboard is available, using it can inhibit the kind of spontaneous, flexible command and control users expect from their UMPCs. Security authentication is a further consideration in a keyboard-free environment. In mobile situations, it can be challenging for users to manage authentication dialog boxes with or without a keyboard. Password entry is a process that requires the user’s full attention to complete successfully. Password security may be compromised by visual feedback from soft key events. For these reasons, you should think about how, when, and where your application requires security authentication. Keyboard-free Recommendations for Text Input Provide on-screen alternatives to commonly used keyboard shortcuts, such as Copy, Paste, Undo, Save, and Open. Provide on-screen alternatives to keyboard modifier keys, such as CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT. Where text is required, offer user assistance, such as autocomplete from history, MRUs, or predefined “quick text.” Investigate ways in which alternate control functionality, such as speech recognition, might replace keyboard input as well as expand your application's capabilities. Consider providing specialized features, such as GPS navigation and video conferencing, through peripheral hardware accessories and OEM-installed hardware. Use hardware control buttons to simplify user navigation tasks; however, hardware buttons may be specific to a particular OEM-configuration. Security and Login Use authentication dialog boxes as sparingly as your application's security requirements allow. Make your authentication requests predictable. Avoid prompting users during tasks or at other times when they do not expect a security prompt. Designing for Mouse-free Scenarios Like standard keyboards, mice are optional Ultra-Mobile PC command and control devices. A good UMPC user interface assumes that users are likely to rely on alternative input devices, such as touch and stylus. Hover Feedback In the absence of a mouse, the Ultra-Mobile PC touch screen does not provide hover-like feedback. As a result, ToolTips and other information that typically display as a result of a mouse-over hover state are not accessible on the display. Don't rely on hover feedback for critical tasks. Clearly label all user interface elements, or use icon graphics to communicate meaning. Consider providing hover feedback with object focus after an item is tapped. If you use pop-up dialog boxes to provide hover feedback, make sure to provide a way for the user to quickly close them. Contextual Menus Without a right-click mouse or stylus event, it isn't possible to open standard contextual menus. Minimize overall reliance on right-clicking. | " |
Now, almost every conversation I have about portable devices starts off with the question: “How long does the battery last?”
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Don't require that an action be accessible only by right-clicking. Consider opening context menus with object focus after a user taps an item. Scrolling Scrollbars require fine motor control and focused attention to target and manipulate. Users may find them difficult to manipulate by touch. Make scrollbar thumb and up/down buttons at least 1 cm x 1 cm. Consider using paged or draggable content as alternatives to scrolling. Drag-and-Drop Finger dragging, gestures, and direct manipulation of content and user interface elements should be quick and simple. Ensure that dragging by using a finger or gestures is discoverable. Include drag-and-drop functionality only when the drag source and drop target are both on the screen. Ensure that the user’s hand will not obscure critical user interface elements while dragging. Ensure that a user does not need to have fine motor control to initiate a drag. Optimizing the Display Area Ultra-Mobile PC applications should present information in a form that users can easily digest at a glance. Overly dense content is difficult to read quickly in mobile situations, and a dense user interface layer requires a great degree of user attention. Display Recommendations: Design with information density in mind. The less dense your presentation is, the easier it is to read. Provide a means to hide or eliminate common desktop window controls, such as resize and restore controls, multiple toolbars, and multiple panes. Consider scaling. Can the user interface be hidden at the lowest resolution? Make user interface elements large enough to quickly understand and interact with. Minimize reliance on small targets, such as spillers and spinners. Minimize reliance on menus and lists. Launch your application into full-screen mode by default. Dedicate the full screen to one task at a time. Avoid complex tasks where possible. Break up complex tasks into a sequence of simpler tasks. Design so that a single tap on the screen is sufficient. In scenarios in which a single tap isn't feasible, provide a light, user-interface layer or overlay that will give users access to the full control layer. For applications that do not display user interface elements in full-screen mode, such as picture displays, games, and videos, a tap on the screen should display controls to close or reveal the caption bar. Make media and other rich content applications open, with minimal or no user interface controls displayed. For such applications, ensure that there is a way for the user to access controls that are necessary to exit the application and to change configuration settings. Using Notifications Well Status information is particularly critical to the Ultra-Mobile PC user, because the UMPC is likely to encounter frequent changes in environmental and system conditions. However, notifications require a greater shift in user attention on the smaller UMPC display than they do on larger desktop or laptop screens. Balance status information requirements against the risk of distracting users with invasive notifications. Notification Recommendations Use invasive notifications for critical information only. Provide hyperlinks in notifications so users can navigate directly to related tasks or information. Highlight ambient status information. |