Mobile Developer Guidelines (Magic xpa 2.x)

Since the mobile devices’ capabilities, user interface and expected user experience are significantly different from a desktop computer, there are important differences that need to be taken into account when designing the application screens and planning the user interaction.

Devices differ in screen size, fonts, expected interaction device features (such as a camera and GPS), security related features and more. This document is designed to assist developers to take full advantage of each device.

Device characteristics

• Screen size and orientation – Mobile devices have various resolutions and screen sizes in both landscape and portrait orientations.

• Keyboard devices – Some mobile devices have a full QWERTY keyboard. In addition to a keyboard, some devices have a dedicated Menu key, an Esc key and a trackpad or trackball that are equivalent to the desktop keyboard arrow keys. The trackpad also provides a dedicated Fire action when pressed. Keyboard-only devices have a fixed screen orientation and cannot be rotated.

• Touch devices – Some mobile devices have a touch screen, some in addition to a full keyboard, and some without a keyboard. Touch devices support screen rotation and provide an on-screen virtual keyboard when a full keyboard is not available.

User interaction

• Windowing model – Mobile devices support a simple stacked window model. Each application can open multiple windows, but each new window is stacked on top of the previous windows and is inherently modal. As there is no mouse pointer, windows cannot be manipulated (moved or resized) by the end user. When an application is run, its main window (and subsequent stacked windows) occupies the entire device screen.

• Form navigation using trackpad – Typically, the trackpad is used to navigate between fields on the form, while the Fire action is used to select values and perform actions. Unlike a desktop keyboard, there is no TAB key so there is no standard key to move to the Next Field or the Previous Field. All navigation between fields and inside a field (an Edit control), is done using the trackpad directional actions.

• Form navigation using touch keyboard – Touch devices use an on-screen virtual keyboard. Some devices rely on tapping on form controls (fields) to navigate between the fields while others have Tab functionality in the virtual keyboard. The navigation inside a field (an Edit control), is done using a long press on the field content.

• Context menu – The context menu is an important and central user interaction tool. Since the screen size is relatively small, it is common to perform most tasks using the context menu, instead of “wasting” screen space on buttons and on-screen menus.

• Input modes – The Edit control is always in Insert mode. There is no equivalent Overwrite mode on the mobile devices.

• Running in the background – The mobile devices’ OS is a multi-tasking OS, meaning that each application can run either in the foreground or in the background. The end user can see the running applications and switch between them. An application running in the background is not suspended and continues to run, but does not have access to the screen.