GPE Human Interface Guidelines (GPE HIG)
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All the topics here are open for discussion, of course. See also GpeHacking for development details.
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Stay as close as possible with the Gnome 2 HIG
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Here is the description on how to make a dialog with the right spacing: http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/1.0/layout.html#layout-window (search for "Technical Details for Proper Layout")
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Interesting thread about spacing in apps: http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2003-February/msg00009.html
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Provide default settings whereever possible. For instance, in a
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Links:
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(http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/1.0/).
This HIG defines the amount of spacing and indents etc. to use. The values given there are too much for use on a handheld computer. A good compromise seems to be to use exactly half the HIG amount (e.g., 6 pixels spacing instead of 12), but maybe 2/3rd turns out to be better.
'gpe/base/libgpewidget/spacing.c' defines accessor functions for values that set the spacing/indent, please use them. This global "spacing base" could even be dependent on the font being used. Also, imagine that somebody wants to use a GPE app on the desktop: the spacing appropriate for a handheld would make that app seem out of place.
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Icon sizes: again, use a scaling factor defined as a global constant for your app. A scaling factor of 0.5 compared to the HIG sizes seems to be a good compromise, but don't (normally) use icon sizes below 16x16 pixels.
See http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/1.0/windows.html#alert-spacing (note that some part of this section is missing in the PDF version)
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text editor application, provide a default file name (derived from the text or a summary) for a new file.
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http://www.uidesigns.com/index.php?section=2&subsection=2
http://www.isii.com/ui_design.html
http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/docs/ui/UIGuidelinesTOC.html
http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/macosx/Essentials/AquaHIGuidelines/AHGIntro/index.html
http://www.embedded.com/internet/0012/0012ia1.htm
http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~chikken/research/thesis/final/thesis.pdf
http://www.google.com/search?q=touchscreen+user+interface+research
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Some things are easier on a handheld than on a desktop
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Gesturing
Some things are harder on a handheld and should be avoided
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Right/middle clicking. The 'xmonobut' dock app can work around this for
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Rely on "mouse-over" tooltips (one can not easily move the cursor
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Double clicking? Especially in a single-purpose environment.
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"legacy" applications.
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over a widget without also clicking it). GPE provides the gpe-what module (http://gpe.handhelds.org/projects/GPE-what.shtml) which can work around this if needed.
See also: http://db.cs.berkeley.edu/~aoki/papers/chi01-tap.pdf
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WindowsCE uses tap-and-hold as a replacement for doubleclicks.
(Not exactly correct - CE uses tap-and-hold as a replacement for the right-click. For the most part, double-clicks are replaced by single-taps.)
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Searching for [T9] for Linux or similar alternatives for input text:
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Great place, with a lot of studies about human-computers interaction using
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Maybe this could help a C implementation:
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Here are some sources and code that could help:
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keyboards, mouses, virtual keyboards: http://www.yorku.ca/mack/
Corection: Windows PocketPC uses tap-and-hold for RIGHT-CLICK
