Qtopia Home - Classes - Hierachy - Annotated - Functions - Qt Embedded |

# Qtopia Style Guide: General

- Introduction
- Qtopia Phone Keys
- Standard Icons and Usage
- Interprocess actions
- Qtopia desktop.

## Introduction

This document describes the rules to be followed when designing a Qtopia application. The focus is on consistency, think very carefully before departing from the preferred style.

For ease of use the Qtopia Style Guide has been divided into several files:

Chapter | Content
--- | ---
General (this document) | Key binding, icons and their usage, Qtopia Desktop and formatting online help.
Application Design | Outlines the styles that should be followed when creating a new Qtopia application including navigational flow, lists, and viewing items.
Naming Conventions | Outlines the conventions for the use of capitals, abbreviations, acronyms and the formatting of labels. See Also styleguide-widgets.html
Widgets | Outlines the styles that should be followed when creating or modifying widgets. See Also styleguide-naming.html
Online Help | Outlines the styles that should be followed when creating or modifying online help files.

## Qtopia Phone Keys

Qtopia requires the following keys:

Name | Alternative representations | Usual binding
--- | --- | ---
Previous | Left, Up, or Down Arrow* | Previous item or value.
Next | Right, Down, or Up Arrow* | Next item or value.
Select | Yes, OK | Activate item or confirm changes.
Back | No, Cancel | Delete text or close window.
1 |  | 1 or space
2..9 |  | Digits with phone key lettering.
0 |  | 0 or Function 1
* |  | * or Function 2
# |  | # or Function 3

Qtopia supports the following additional keys:

Name | Alternative representations | Usual binding
--- | --- | ---
Menu |  | Invoke context menu.
Up | Up Arrow | Item physically above
Down | Down Arrow | Item physically below.
Left | Left Arrow | Item physically to the left.
Right | Right Arrow | Item physically to the right.
Delete | Cancel, Clear | Delete item.
Jog | Wheel up/down | Scroll view or values.
F\ex | Function keys | Invoke global operation.

* on some phones, two keys represent both vertical and horizontal directions of suggested motion. Sometimes these are a Left/Up button and a Right/Down button, at other times they are a Left/Down button and a Right/Up button.

## Standard Icons and Usage

Icon | Component | Filename | Description of Use
--- | --- | --- | ---
| Context Bar | back.png | Done: Finished using the current screen and wish to return to previous window.
| Context Bar | backspace.png | Delete text: Deletes (backspace) 1 character.
| Context Bar | cancel.png | Cancel: Removes all changes performed on the current item (transaction).
| Context Bar | ok.png | Accept: Accepts and disengages the current information/data in the currently selected widget.
| Context Bar | options.png | Open/Close Menu: Displays the current window's context menu.
| Context Bar | select.png | Engage/Select: Selects the current item, widget or grouping.
| Context Bar | view.png | More Information: Selects and displays information about the currently focused item.
| Context Menu | beam.png | Beam: Sends the currently viewed item via IR.
| Context Menu | edit.png | Edit: Edits the currently viewed item.
| Context Menu | find.png | Find/Search: Locates an item.
| Context Menu | help_icon.png | Help: Displays the help documentation for the current window.
| Context Menu | new.png | New: Creates a new item.
| Context Menu | trash.png | Delete item: Deletes the currently viewed item.

## Interprocess actions

When an application is activated via a QCop message in order to view a document, pressing Back or Done must close the application. For example viewing a picture from the Documents launcher will open the picture in the Pictures application, Closing the image viewed in the application will close the application and return to the Documents launcher.

## Qtopia desktop.

Qtopia desktop should follow the same standards adhered in Qtopia but should also follow close to the standards established by desktop user interfaces.

- Labels can be expanded to use there full name instead of an acronym or abbreviation.

Note: Creation of events, tasks and contacts should follow the creation rules specified in Qtopia ie. if the user doesn't enter sufficient information the item is not created.