>Generally, from a UI aspect, if you are showing active and inactive
>controls, you'd want to do something more dramatic, to avoid specifically
>those problems. Changing the background color to gray for inactive would
>probably go a long way. If it means creating double bitmaps, so be it.
>Are you writing the app for your users, or your developers?
Gray is undoubtedly a good idea.
Incidentally, for an idea of what I'm talking about for those who don't
have a IIIc, I just noticed a dramatic example while I was doing some
beaming (and had the unit upside down and then sideways). The title bar
of dialog boxes is a rich blue (probably identical to the "standard"
Windows title bar). When viewed from the left side of the unit (as might
happen if someone is looking over your shoulder, say), it turns virtually
black, while when viewed from the right side, it's a very light blue. The
same kind of effect can in fact be seen on larger LCD monitors (such as
the one I'm looking at right now), but the difference with the Palm (and
why this effect becomes more important IMHO) is that the Palm is much
smaller. When I'm sitting in front of my monitor, I'm unlikely to change
my viewing angle very rapidly, whereas the Palm in your hand can quickly
and easily assume various orientations.
One of the things Palm thinks was a good idea (and it probably was, it's
hard to judge without seeing the alternative) is that the biggest
variation on the Palm screen is from side to side, whereas on a typical
LCD monitor, the screen is oriented 90 degrees differently and the major
variation is from top to bottom. So on my LCD screen, if I stand up, the
screen washes out seriously, whereas if I tilt the screen up and "sight
up" from the bottom (not too typical, obviously) it gets very dark.
However someone coming up to my desk and viewing the same screen as I
from either side will see essentially the same view as me (within a
certain angle, of course). But on the Palm, it's that side to side
variation which is large, so someone looking at the screen from your side
will see very different colors.
FWIW, probably <0.02.
Steve Patt
President, Stevens Creek Software
http://www.stevenscreek.com/palm
Best PQA ("ePQA"), PalmSource 99
Best Application ("PizzaScan"), Palm Developer's Conference 1998
First printing software for the Palm - September, 1997
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