UI Design and

Interaction Guide
for Windows Phone 7
7

July 2010
Version 2.0
UI Design and
Interaction Guide
for Windows Phone 7
July 2010
Version 2.0

This is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases.

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ment is provided for informational purposes only and Microsoft makes
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The Windows Phone 7 design philosophy  8 Application settings 68 Light sensor 130 Text box  188
The Windows Phone 7 human/computer Input methods 70 Output methods 132 User interface text guidelines 190
interface  14 Touch input 72 FM radio 134 Text guidelines – voice and tone 192
A note on units: pixels vs millimeters  16 Supported touch gestures 78 Windows phone application interface Text guidelines – capitalization 194
A note on game UI design  18 Tap 80 controls 136 Text guidelines – punctuation 196
Visual design resources and feedback  20 Double tap 82 Border  138 Miscellaneous 198
Globalization and localization Pan 84 Push button 140
considerations  22 Flick 86 Canvas  142
User interface framework  24 Pinch and stretch 88 Check box  144
Start  26 Touch and hold 90 Content control  146
Application bar  30 Four touch points 92 Content presenter  148
Application bar icons 32 On-screen keyboard 94 Grid  150
Application bar menu  36 Hardware keyboard 98 Hyperlink  152
Screen orientations  38 Microphone 102 Image 154
Fonts 40 Phone hardware buttons 104 InkPresenter  156
Incoming phone calls 42 Start button  106 ListBox  158
Push notifications 44 Search button 108 MediaElement  160
Tiles and tile notification  46 Back button 110 Multi scale image  162
Toast notifications 48 Power button  112 Panorama 164
Raw notifications 50 Volume buttons 114 Password box  172
Navigation, frames and pages 52 Camera button 116 Pivot 174
Page title 56 Sensors 118 Progress bar 176
Progress indicator 58 Accelerometer 120 Radio button 178
Scroller 60 A-GPS 122 Scroll viewer  180
Themes 62 Proximity sensor 124 Slider  182
Screen transitions and animations  64 Camera 126 Stack panel 184
System and system application settings 66 Compass 128 Text block 186
8 The Windows Phone 7 design philosophy 9

Windows® Phone 7 is for Life Maximizers, people who are busy personally
and professionally, constantly juggling priorities, and who value technol-
ogy as a means to an end, a way to get things done.

They do not want to feel overwhelmed because they have priorities to

balance as they grow personally and professionally, all the while living life
to its fullest.

Applications should embody the three Red Threads of Windows Phone 7:

• Personal – your day, your way

• Relevant – your people, your location

• Connected – your stuff, your peace of mind

Every application should connect to at least one of these threads. Cre-

ate applications that can be personalized by humanizing them to display
people whom the users know or places that users want to go to, and
make it easy to share information across the web and beyond.

Build authentic experiences.

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10 The Windows Phone 7 design philosophy 11

The Windows Phone OS 7 User Interface (UI) is based on a design that is

internally named Metro, and echoes the visual language of airport and
metro system signage in its design and typeface. The goal is to create
contextual relevance through content – the user’s own content – so that
using the phone is a personal experience. Metro design interfaces embody
harmonious, functional, and attractive visual elements that encourage play-
ful exploration so that the user feels a sense of wonder and excitement. A
clear, straightforward design not only makes an application legible, it also
encourages usage and can lead to delight.

The Metro design was developed using the five following principles:

1) Clean, light, open, and fast: It is visually distinctive, contains

ample white space, reduces clutter and elevates typography as
a key design element.

2) Content, not chrome: It accentuates focus on the content that

the user cares most about, making the product simple and ap
proachable for everyone.

3) Integrated hardware and software: Hardware and software

blend into each other and creates a seamless user experience from
single-button access to Search, Start, Back and the camera to
on-board sensor integration..

4) World-class motion: The Windows Phone 7 touch and gesture

experiences on capacitive screens are consistent with Windows 7
on the desktop and include hardware-accelerated animations and
transitions to enhance the user’s experience at every turn.

5) Soulful and alive: A personalized, automatically updated view

into the information that matters most to the user is enabled and
brings to life a cinematic photo and video experience by having
a fully integrated Zune media player experience.

These design principles are based around the concept that UI elements
should be authentically digital and embody harmonious, functional, and
attractive visual elements. Applications should engage users by promoting
navigation, exploration, and exciting visuals in their design.

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12 The Windows Phone 7 design philosophy 13

Developers should use digital metaphors where natural and

appropriate and should not necessarily try to mimic real world
interaction if it is not appropriate. If it is, the UI should look and
feel great even though the UI objects only visually imitate and
mimic analog manipulation behaviors. The Windows Phone
Developer Tools provides a collection of Metro-inspired Silver-
light controls for use in applications.

Microsoft highly recommends that Windows Phone 7 develop-

ers adopt the Metro design style for their applications. This
guide provides the design knowledge, fundamentals, and
guidance to do so. Although requirements and implementa-
tions will vary from application to application, utilizing Metro
styled elements will create a more consistent and fluid overall
UI experience for users.

This guide also details the methods of user interaction that can
be used by a Windows Phone 7 application, including standard
input, functionality within the UI framework, and the Metro-
inspired Silverlight® and system-based controls. Diverging
from the Windows Phone 7 interaction model is generally not
allowed, but developers can gain a deeper understanding of
the hardware and software interaction elements that are avail-
able as a part of the development platform, and those that are
customizable.

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14 The Windows Phone 7 human/computer interface 15

The first computing devices were manual objects that required touch to Usability and the UI should be
operate them. The interfaces were the stones of an abacus or the dials a primary design goal in every
on a difference engine. The information was simply seen as the state of application for Windows Phone 7,
not an afterthought.
the device. As electronic computers were birthed, input methods rapidly
evolved from switches to keyboard and mouse, and output methods from As developers create applications,
silent, blinking lights to high-definition displays with stereo sound. This they should place special emphasis
transition exponentially increased what could be done with computers, throughout to ensure that layouts,
but ironically made them much harder to use because the only way to pictures, visual elements and touch-
based controls fit this UI paradigm.
manipulate them or their data was through an interface that was only
a proxy to the computing event hidden away inside a case. Celebrate and elevate the content to
be the experience by using the UI to
While a child can play with an abacus and intuitively learn how to operate create awesome, unique applications
it through exploration and play, the same cannot be said for computing that draw people in and encourage
devices that do not have a touch component. touch.

The Windows Phone 7 UI is designed around touch interaction, offer-

ing full navigation using a combination of finger gesture movements.
Knowledge about interacting with layouts should be inherently obvious.
There are no complex key chords or arcane commands to memorize, and
the keyboard’s role is to input text. People intuitively tap, flick, pan, and
otherwise touch and manipulate content directly since the content is the
interface.

With A-GPS functionality, sensors such as an accelerometer, and

a vibration unit, the UI can be extended beyond the surface of the phone
to include where it is in the world, what orientation it is at, and how it feels
– the phone itself is the UI.

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16 A note on units: pixels vs millimeters 17

All Windows Phone 7 phones will have WVGA screens at 800 x 480 pixel If developers or designers require
resolution, no matter the screen size. Most of the measurement units precise millimeter sizing for UI
in this guide are expressed in pixels but in certain cases, usually around elements, consult original equipment
manufacturers display specifications
touch target size, measurements may be expressed in millimeters.
for the proper conversion factor to go
from pixels to millimeters.
Since these units are not directly convertible without knowing the pixels
per millimeter of a given screen, designers and developers who require
fine-grained millimeter positioning or sizing of elements for a given screen
size will need to refer to original equipment manufacturers display specifi-
cations as there is no method to determine this programmatically.

All of the controls and UI elements within the Windows Phone Developer
Tools are sized to support all possible screen sizes for Windows Phone
and adhere to minimum millimeter touch targets regardless of the screen
size.

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18 A note on game UI design 19

Games are naturally immersive environments and their UIs should flex to For full-screen games, developers are
accommodate the needs of the game. free to implement whatever in-game
UI elements they see fit. For games
By creating games that are designed from the beginning to use a multitouch that appear within the Windows Phone
screen, games will make the most of the primary input device of the phone, page frame, developers should follow
the relevant UI guidance in the rest of
and control systems will feel natural to Windows Phone users. Though there
this document.
are hardware buttons on the device, only the Back button is available to the
game, and Back should only be used for the specific purpose of pausing and
exiting the game.

Think about what types of control schemes fit well with a multitouch device,
and break away from simulating traditional controls, such as thumbsticks as
they take away useful space from the gameplay area. Instead, use gestures,
such as point, stretch, shrink, flick, and turn as user input instead. Allow play-
ers to draw paths on the screen to direct units and issue commands; allow
them to select groups of units by stretching an on-screen rectangle around
them. Allow players to navigate by dragging the landscape with a swipe
gesture, or to rotate the view by turning it with two fingers. There are many
possibilities for game control using touch, and by choosing a scheme that
seems natural and intuitive to gamers, you’ll provide the best experience on
Windows Phone.

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20 Visual design resources and feedback 21

To help designers and developers create high-fidelity visual mockups of

applications that are true to the Metro design, Microsoft has created two
visual design resources for inspiration and project work.

The first is the Windows Phone Design System – Codename Metro,

a PDF book that visually explains the inspiration behind the Metro design
and puts a face to the life maximizers the phone was designed for.

The second is the Windows Phone Design Templates, layered Photo-

shop template files for controls that ship as a part of the Windows Phone
Developer Tools and can be used to create pixel-perfect application
layouts to guide development or pitch an idea. The design templates also
include examples of controls that are a part of Windows Phone OS 7.0,
but are not available as a part of the Windows Phone Developer Tools.
These additional templates are included to help designers and developers
maintain a consistent look and feel across applications for system controls
that developers wish to mimic.

The above resources and links to programming topics related to the UI

elements discussed in this guide can be accessed at http://go.microsoft.
com/fwlink/?LinkID=190696.

Microsoft values feedback on this guide and the Visual Design Resources
we have made available to help developers and designers create beautiful
Windows Phone 7 applications. If you have suggestions or feedback about
these resources, please email us at [email protected]. We may not
be able to respond to every email, but we will consider incorporating your
feedback into the next versions of the resources.

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22 Globalization and localization considerations 23

Windows Phone 7 will be available in a number of languages and regions Provide at least 40% buffer space for
around the world. Developers who are interested in selling their applica- localized strings.
tions to a global market should pay particular attention to making sure
that their applications are world-ready by following best practices around
designing the application UI to support varying text string lengths, date
formats, and be aware of cultural sensitivities around use of color and
images, and geopolitical issues. MSDN online, http://msdn.microsoft.com,
has a variety of topics that detail these best practices.

Image Source: NASA’s Earth Observatory

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24 User interface framework 25

The Windows Phone 7 user interface framework provides consistent

system objects, events, and interactions for developers and designers
to create beautiful, predictable application experiences for the end user.

This section examines each piece of the framework and discusses how
they can be used or accommodated within application user interfaces.

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26 Start 27

Start is the beginning of the Windows Phone 7 experience for users after Start is a reserved space and only
they power on their phone. Start displays application Tiles that users users can place tiles in this area.
have pinned and placed in a position of their choosing for quick launch. Windows Phones come with pre-placed
tiles installed by Microsoft, phone
Pressing the Start Button on the phone always returns a user to Start, no
manufacturers, and phone service
matter what application is running. providers.

Tiles that use the Tile Notification feature can update the Tile graphic or Start is the likely to be the most
title text, or increment a counter, enabling users to create a personalized viewed phone interface by users;
Start experience. Examples include displaying if it is their turn in a game, therefore, developers and designers
the weather, or how many email messages they have received. should carefully consider the potential
that users may pin and display the
Start is always presented in portrait view. Application Tile for their application in
Start.

For more information, see the

Application Tiles and Tile Notifications
and Start Button sections.

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28 Status bar 29

The Status Bar is one of the two primary components of Windows Phone The Status Bar is system-reserved and
OS 7.0 chrome. The Application Bar is the other. cannot be modified.

It is an indicator bar that displays system-level status information in a It can be hidden, but many users view
the system clock as an essential feature
simple and clean presentation in a reserved space in the application work-
so think carefully before hiding it.
space. It automatically updates to provide different notifications and keeps
users aware of system-level status by displaying the following information
(in order from left to right):

1) Signal strength

2) Data connection

3) Call forwarding

4) Roaming

5) Wireless network signal strength

6) Bluetooth status

7) Ringer mode

8) Input status

9) Battery power level

10) System clock

By default, only the system clock is always visible. If a user double taps in
the Status Bar area, all other relevant indicators slide into view for approxi-
mately eight seconds before sliding out of view.

The system clock is 32 pixels high in portrait mode and 72 pixels wide
in landscape mode. It always extends to the edge of the screen and is
opaque in appearance.

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30 Application bar 31

The Application Bar provides a place for developers to display up to four Use icon buttons for the primary, most-
of the most common application tasks and views as icon buttons. used actions in the application. Do not
use four icons just to use them. Less is
The Application Bar provides a view that displays icon buttons with text more in this space.
hints and an optional context menu when a user taps the visual indica-
Some actions are difficult to clearly
tor of sequential dots or flicks up the Application Bar. This view can be convey with an icon. Place it in the
dismissed by tapping outside of the menu area or on the dots, using the Application Bar Menu instead.
back button, or selecting a menu item or Application Bar Icon.
For guidelines about icon button sizing,
The Application Bar always stays on the same edge of the display as the color, formatting, and text hints, see
Steering Buttons (Back, Start, and Search) and extends the full width of the the Application Bar Icons topic. For
guidelines about the Application Bar
screen in portrait or landscape mode. Icon buttons will rotate to align with
Menu, see the Application Bar Menu
the three phone orientations. topic.

Application Bar buttons can be displayed in an enabled or disabled state. No text-only buttons are permitted.
An example of a disabled button would be a delete button in read-only
scenarios. Place tasks that are not frequently
accessed in the Application Bar Menu.
The application bar height in portrait mode and width in landscape mode
Application Bar Menu item text will
is fixed at 72 pixels and cannot be modified. It can be set to be displayed run off the screen if it is too long. The
or hidden. recommended maximum length for the
text of a menu item is between 14 to
20 characters. Again, less is more in this
space.

Use the user-defined system theme

color unless there is a compelling
reason to override it. Using a custom
color can affect the display quality
of the button icons, create unusual
visual effects in menu animations,
and negatively influence power
consumption on some display types.

The opacity of the Application Bar

can be adjusted finely, but it is
recommended that you use only
opacity values of 0, .5, and 1. If the
opacity is set to less than 1, the
Application Bar will overlay the UI. If
the opacity is set to 1, the displayed
page size will change.

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32 Application bar icons 33

Window Mobile 7 Series

Basic Core Icons Vectors

Application Bar Icons should be clear, understandable, and leverage real- Use icon buttons for the primary, most-
world metaphors that are familiar to users. used actions in an application. Do not
use four icons just to use them. Less is
NEW ADD MINUS CHECK
The best icons have simple geometry and limit the amount of fine detail. more in this space.

Icon text hints are displayed when users display the Application Bar Menu. Some actions are difficult to clearly
convey with an icon. Present those
actions in the Application Bar Menu
instead. For more information about
CLOSE CANCEL SYNC REFRESH
the Application Bar Menu, see the
Application Bar topic.

Application Bar Icon images should

be 48 pixels by 48 pixels and have a
white foreground on a transparent
QUESTION MARK EXCLAMATION BACK NEXT background using an alpha channel.
The Application Bar will colorize the
icon according to the current style
settings and colored icons can cause
this effect to display unpredictably.

SEARCH DELETE SAVE FOLDER

Images that are sized at sizes other
than the recommended size will
be scaled to fit and can potentially
lower the overall image quality of the
Application Bar Icon.

The circle that is displayed on each icon

VIDEO CAMERA E-MAIL SETTINGS
button is drawn by the Application
Bar and should not be included in the
source image.

FAVORITES ADD TO FAVORITES DOWNLOAD UPLOAD

SHARE EDIT OVERFLOW DOTS

PLAY PAUSE PREVIOUS/REWIND NEXT/FASTFORWARD

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34 Application bar icons
QUESTION MARK EXCLAMATION BACK NEXT
35

SEARCH DELETE SAVE FOLDER

Use the user-defined system theme

color unless there is a compelling
reason to override it. Using a custom
VIDEO CAMERA E-MAIL SETTINGS
color can affect the display quality
of the button icons, create unusual
visual effects in menu animations,
and negatively influence power
consumption on some display types.

FAVORITES ADD TO FAVORITES DOWNLOAD UPLOAD Buttons must have an icon and must
have a text hint. Text hints should be
short and provide context for what
the button does and do not need
to be fully descriptive. An example
would be a button that flips an
SHARE EDIT OVERFLOW DOTS image horizontally. Instead of “flip
horizontally”, “flip” would be sufficient.

For more information, see the

Application Bar and Application Bar
Menu topic.
PLAY PAUSE PREVIOUS/REWIND NEXT/FASTFORWARD
A set of 64 Application Bar Icons, 32
dark and 32 light in PNG format, are
installed as a part of the Windows
Phone Developer Tools Beta at C:\
Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\
Windows Phone\v7.0\Icons. Only the
white icons should be used in the
Application Bar.

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36 Application bar menu 37

The Application Bar Menu is an optional way for users to access specific A maximum of five menu items can be
tasks from the Application Bar. The Application Bar Menu can be accessed displayed.
by tapping the visual indicator of sequential dots in the Application Bar or
If no menu items are displayed, only
by flicking the Application Bar up. This view can be dismissed by tapping the icon text hints are displayed.
outside of the menu area or on the dots, using the back button, or select-
ing a menu item or Application Bar Icon. The Application Bar Menu will remain
on the screen until the user performs
To prevent the menu from scrolling, the number of items displayed in the an action.
menu is limited to five.

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38 Screen orientations 39

Windows Phone supports three views of screen orientation: portrait, Developers must add code to support
landscape left, and landscape right. landscape views.

In portrait view, the page is vertically oriented with the steering buttons Applications cannot specify only left
or only right landscape views if they
appearing at the bottom of the phone and the height of the page is
support orientation changes – both
greater than the width. views must be supported.

In either of the two landscape views, the Status Bar and Application Bar Applications can define a static
remain on the side of the screen that has the Power and Start Button, orientation view using the Supported
respectively. Landscape left has the Status Bar on the left and landscape Orientations property.
right has the Status Bar on the right.
Applications that support text input
should assume a horizontal hardware
The Status Bar grows from 32 pixel in portrait view to 72 pixel in both
keyboard is present and support
landscape views, as measured from the side of the phone that has the landscape views.
power button toward the center of the screen.
Custom screen transition animation
Portrait view is the default view for applications. effects are prohibited.

Start is always presented in portrait view.

The screen orientation will change based on the following actions:

Beginning Screen Orientation Rotating Ending Screen Orientation

Portrait 60 degrees left Landscape Left
Portrait 60 degrees right Landscape Right
Landscape Left 60 degrees right Portrait
Landscape Right 60 degrees left Portrait
Landscape Left or Right, flat on a table 30 degrees up Portrait

If in portrait view, the screen orientation will change to either of the land-
scape views when a user slides out a horizontal hardware keyboard.

There is no programmatic way to switch orientations as the orientation

property is set to read-only but it is possible to set a fixed orientation.

Screen transition animation effects are played when screen rotation

occurs.

In-application landscape view-aware system components are the Status

Bar, Application Bar, Application Bar Menu, Volume/Ring/Vibrate Display,
Push Notifications, and Dialogs.

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40 Fonts 41

Segoe WP Regular The Metro design principles center on a look that uses type prominently
throughout Windows Phone 7. Segoe WP is the system font and it is
Do not post Segoe WP fonts for
redistribution or package with an
a Unicode font. It has kern pairing, but does not have font hinting. It application – this would violate the
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890 is available in five styles:
license terms of the font.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1) Regular
Since Segoe is such an integral part of
the UI experience, use alternative fonts
2) Bold sparingly in applications.
3) Semi-bold
Avoid using font sizes that are smaller
Segoe WP Bold 4) Semi-light
than 15 points in size. Text that is
5) Black
smaller than 15 points in size can be
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890 A standard set of East Asian reading fonts that support Chinese standard,
hard to read and are likely too small
in size as touch targets without touch
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Japanese, and Korean is also included. target padding.

Developers can embed their own fonts for use within their application, If using colorized fonts, use high-
but they will only be available for use within that application. contrast colors at smaller point sizes
to enhance readability and test against
Segoe WP Semi-bold both themes and all accent colors.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Segoe WP Semi-light
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Segoe WP Black
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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42 Incoming phone calls 43

When a user receives or places a phone call, the UI of the application Applications that expect user
currently in view is completely obscured to display the dial pad or infor- interaction during a phone call should
mation about the incoming call. have a minimum 75 pixel margin
on the edge of the device that has
Once the call is connected or accepted, the call information flips to the the power button. No touchable UI
elements should be placed within that
top of the screen and the application appears beneath it in a dimmed-
margin.
out view. Tapping in the dimmed-out area or pushing a hardware button
minimizes the call progress information into a 64 pixel bar in the portrait
mode and 75 pixels in the landscape mode. Tapping in the dimmed area
brings the obscured application to the foreground for user interaction.

If the keypad or additional call features are selected during a call, the
application currently in view is completely obscured.

Call progress information stays pinned to the same side of the phone as
the power button and the text does not rotate from the portrait orienta-
tion.

If the proximity sensor senses an object near it, it will power off the screen
to conserve battery. This happens when the phone is held to the ear or
may also happen if the phone is being held horizontally and a finger
obscures the sensor. The position of the proximity sensor will vary by
phone manufacturer.

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44 Push notifications 45

For application development, the Push Notification Service is designed to Use tile notifications for awareness-
provide a cloud service with a dedicated, resilient, and persistent channel only notifications.
for pushing a notification to a mobile device. When a cloud service needs
Use toast notifications for action-
to send a push notification to a device, it sends a notification request to requested notifications, but use them
the Push Notification Service, which in turn routes the notification to the sparingly, as all applications have
application, or to the device as a tile, toast or raw notification. access to toast notifications. Too many
toast notifications could annoy or
There are three methods to display push notifications: frustrate the user.

1. Tile notifications – Awareness notifications inform users of Use raw notifications for in-application
changes or events that may have occurred and are non-disruptive to the action-required notifications.
user workflow. They appear in Start tiles. See Application Tiles and Tile
Notifications for more information.

2. Toast notifications – Action-requested notifications are

system-wide notifications that do not disrupt the user workflow or require
intervention to resolve. An example of these notifications is when the user
receives a text message or instant message. These notifications appear at
the top of the screen and are displayed for 10 seconds before disappear-
ing. See Toast Notifications for more information.

3. Raw notifications – Action-required in-application notifications

are fully controlled by an application and affect only that application.
These appear within an application. See Raw Notifications for more infor-
mation.

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46 Tiles and tile notification 47

A tile is an easily recognizable visual shortcut for an application or its Applications that do not incorporate a
content that users can set in an arbitrary location on the phone Start tile image or title will display a generic,
experience. Other than pre-installed application tiles, only the user can system-defined icon and the name of
your project.
pin tiles to Start. There is no method for an application to determine if its
tile has been pinned to Start, so developers should not assume that it is. Tile images should be 173 pixels by 173
pixels at 256 dpi and in JPEG or PNG
Tiles can communicate information to the user by displaying an optional formats. Images larger or smaller than
counter that uses the system font, updating developer-provided tile this in size will be cropped or scaled up
background images, or displaying an optional title that uses the system using the top left corner as the origin.
font that is of a fixed size and color. Counter, background image and The default tile image will be scaled
down for display in the application list
title updates are controlled using the Tile Notification service. The accent
unless a separate 63 pixels by 63 pixels
color for the counter is always the accent color that the user has selected. application image is included.
Counter display is optional.
The tile title can be displayed without
Double-width tiles are only available to Microsoft, phone manufacturers, using Tile Notifications.
and mobile operators.
If you use multiple tile images, they
should be visually consistent with each
other and have a recognizable theme
or style.

Developers cannot change the color,

font, font color, or size of the counter
display.

Be conservative in the use of Tile

Notifications – excessive use can
negatively impact battery life.

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48 Toast notifications 49

A web service can generate a special kind of push notification known Applications must default to turn toast
as a toast notification, which displays as an opaque bar in the Accent notifications off.
Color on the top of the screen for 10 seconds to be tapped on before
Toast notifications should be personally
disappearing. If the notification is tapped, the application that sent the relevant and time critical to the user.
notification will launch. The toast notification displays a scaled-down
version of the application icon in the left corner and two fields of text are Toast notifications should primarily
available, one bolded title and one normal sub-title. Text that is longer be focused on peer-to-peer
communication.
than the display area will be truncated.
Use the XNA Framework GamerServices
Examples would be notifications produced via an instant messaging client for turn-based or in-game
or a peer-to-peer oriented application. Turn-based games should use the notifications.
XNA Framework GamerServices for notifications.

Be very conservative in the frequency and number of toast notifications

an application generates. As all applications can access this notification
channel, imagine every application on a user’s phone sending a toast
notification every time an event happened in the application – many
people might find this behavior to be very annoying and visually distract-
ing. Follow the guidance closely to prevent user notification overload.

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50 Raw notifications 51

Raw notifications are in-application, action-requested notifications. They

can be generated by the application itself or sent from a web service.
Web service raw notifications only appear within the specified application;
there is no system-wide way to display a raw notification.

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52 Navigation, frames and pages 53

frame control Windows Phone 7 applications are based on a Silverlight page model Finding the right number of pages
where users can navigate forward through different pages (screens) of for an application and defining the
content via links and backward using the Back Button. A goal of this navigational map may take some trial
page control and error. Mockup the pages and
model is to ease the creation of view-based applications that fit naturally
navigational map of an application
into the Windows Phone 7 page navigation model. and walk through them several times
before coding to minimize or eliminate
The core elements of an application include a top-level container control the need to add pages or change the
called a frame that displays pages. Only one frame is allowed per ap- map later, when it will be much harder.
plication, but there is no limit to the number of pages. Windows Phone 7
provides frame and page classes to facilitate navigation to separate sec- Review the Windows Phone Application
Interface Controls section to consider
tions of content.
how your application content will fit or
be displayed before creating your own
Pages hold discrete sections of content in applications and appear as
custom control for a page.
content separate screens to the user. Developers can create as many different
pages and construct their UIs as needed to present content within an Do not display the Status Bar or
application and then provide navigation to those pages from the frame Application Bar when in full-screen
or page if desired. Simple applications may only require one page while mode.
more complex ones may require many.

Developers can also implement a full-screen view where the Status Bar or
Application Bar can optionally be displayed, but this must be explicitly de-
fined using the visibility property, as the default is to not display them. The
best practice for a full-screen view is to not display either so that users can
focus on the content experience. Notifications and incoming calls are still
displayed in full-screen mode, even if the Status Bar and/or the Applica-
tion bar is hidden. Examples of full-screen UI implementations are
a screen animation that is embedded within an application.

The page navigation model is a spoke and hub system. This means that
unless developers explicitly add links to other pages within their applica-
tion, users must use the Back Button to navigate to a page that they wish
to view and that users always move forward through the pages. This is
similar to how a web browser displays and navigates web page history.

The system tracks each page a user has visited and places it in what is
called the back stack so that when a user pushes the Back Button, they
are served the last saved page in the back stack. There is no limit to the
number of pages that can be placed in the back stack.

The back stack, combined with the hub and spoke model of page

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54 Navigation, frames and pages 55

navigation, means that a user navigating from page 1 (p1) to

page 2 (p2) to p1 to p2 to page 3 (p3) to p1 creates a back
stack of p1, p2, p1, p2, p3, p1. If the user modified content in
the second instance of p2 in the back stack, but navigates back
using the Back Button to the first instance of p2 in the back
stack, unless the page refreshes the data, previous changes will
not appear on that page, as it is a snapshot of how the user
saw that page at that point in navigation. For this reason, think
carefully about implementing page-to-page links or buttons
that could impact application navigation for the user and con-
sider if a page should be refreshed upon entry.

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56 Page title 57

Although not an interactive control, the Page Title is used to clearly display Page Titles are optional. When
information for page contents. It appears in default Windows Phone displayed, they do not scroll.
Developer Tools templates and is optional. Page titles are not actionable.
If Page Titles are displayed, reserve
the Page Title space in all pages of the
application for consistency so the user
does not experience differing window
sizes across the application.

If Page Titles are displayed, the title

should be the name of the application
or a specific descriptive line of text
relevant to the displayed data.

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58 Progress indicator 59

The Progress Indicator shows in-application activity related to an activity Developers who wish to mimic this
or a series of events. This is a system-reserved control that is integrated control should use the determinate
into the Status Bar and that can be displayed across multiple application indicator for tasks such as downloading
content and the indeterminate for
pages.
tasks such as remote connections.
The progress indicator can be either determinate or indeterminate.
Determinate progress indicators have a beginning and ending point.
Indeterminate progress indicators continue until a task is finished.

See also the Progress Bar topic in the Windows Phone Application
Interface Controls section.

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60 Scroller 61

Page scrolling occurs when content on the screen exceeds the bounds
of the visible page and a user pans or flicks. When scrolling, visible scroll
indicators appear on the right side for vertical scrolling and along the
bottom for horizontal scrolling to indicate whether the content is longer
or wider than the page, and to represent the current position on the page.
After page scrolling ends, the scroll indicators fade from view after one
second has elapsed.
scroll indicator
The scroll indicators are not user actionable and are an overlay to the
Appears when you
interact with the page content beneath. Their primary function is to provide a hint to the user
about the page size.

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62 Themes 63

METRO COLORS A Theme is a user-selected combination of background and accent colors Since users can choose between 20
that personalizes the visual elements on a Windows Phone for that user. Themes (22 if the mobile operator or
Only colors are part of a theme. Other elements such as fonts or control phone manufacturer adds an accent
color,) developers should consider
sizing do not change.
the possible color combinations if
they add colored elements to their
There are two background colors, dark or light, and 10 accent colors,
UI. Developers may wish to consult
magenta (FF0097), purple (A200FF), teal (00ABA9), lime (8CBF26), brown with graphic designers for color
(996600), pink (FF0097), orange (F09609), blue (1BA1E2), red (E51400) combination assistance.
and green (339933). Mobile operators or phone manufacturers may add
one additional system color. The default Theme is a dark background with Avoid using too much white
in applications, such as white
the blue accent color, but mobile operators or phone manufactures can
METRO BLUE: 1ba1e2 METRO GREEN: 339933 NEW PURPLE: a200ff NEW VERIDIAN: 00aba9 NEW LIME: 8cbf26
backgrounds, as this may have an
override this setting. impact on battery life for devices that
have organic LED displays.
As a part of the Windows Phone Application Platform, applications auto-
matically take on the selected theme and ensure that system controls and User-selected, system-wide Theming
UI elements appear consistently across the platform to prevent a jarring, cannot be modified; only Themes
unsettled user experience. within applications can be modified.

If the foreground or background color

Developers do not have to adjust application controls to match the user
of a control is explicitly set, verify
Theme, as these styles will be modified at runtime, but developers can that the content is visible in both
override the Theme within an application. For example, developers may dark and light themes. If the set color
METRO ORANGE: f09609 METRO RED: e51400 NEW BROWN: 996600 NEW PINK: e671b8 NEW MAGENTA: ff0097 want to override the Theme of an application if they want to build an is not visible, also explicitly set the
application that matches a brand color or content consumed from a web background or foreground color to
service. Developers can provide their own resources and override any maintain contrast or choose a more
appropriate color.
themed properties, but cannot turn off theming. Developers should be
cautious about using too much white in their applications, as this may
have an impact on battery life for devices that have organic LED displays.

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64 Screen transitions and animations 65

Windows Phone OS 7.0 has many built-in screen transitions and anima- Built-in screen transitions and
tions that create a sense of a “fluid” user interface. One example is the animations are system-reserved and
application entry transition, where unrelated application tiles “flip” out of developers cannot access them but
may mimic them.
the way, leaving the selected application tile alone for a moment before
it too “flips” to reveal the application user interface. If developers want to implement
transitions or animations within their
application, they must use Silverlight or
XNA Framework to create them.

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66 System and system application settings 67

System and System Application Settings are accessed via the App List and Developers should become familiar
tapping on the Settings icon. Users are presented with a Pivot to view set- with the system settings options and
tings choices for the system and for applications that ship with the system. consider how various user settings
could impact UI or application
From here, users can personalize the appearance and behavior of their
behavior. For example, developers of
phone by performing activities such as setting the system Theme, joining web service-connected applications
Wi-Fi networks, or changing the region and language used by the phone. should consider application behavior
when the user puts the phone in
Changes to System and System Application Settings are immediately airplane mode.
implemented. In some cases, even though the change has happened
immediately, the user may not have feedback that the change has Application settings must be
implemented within the application
occurred until an ongoing event is completed or when a future event
itself.
occurs. Examples would be joining a secure Wi-Fi network or changing
the frequency of alarms.

Developers do not have access to place application settings within the

System and System Application Settings and must implement application
settings pages within the application itself. See the Application Settings
topic for more information.

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68 Application settings 69

For applications that have several user-selectable settings, developers Immediately implement user-selected
should create a settings page within the application and model it after Application Settings without a
the layout and behaviors in System and System Application Settings. confirming dialog box and provide a
feedback method to indicate that the
Changes to Application Settings should be immediately implemented. This change has occurred.
means that a “Done”, “OK”, or other confirming dialog is not needed. In Avoid creating Application Settings
some cases, even though the change has happened immediately, the user that have more than 2 pages (screens).
may not have feedback that the change has occurred until an ongoing
event is completed or a future event occurs. Examples would be joining Settings that require more than a
single screen should use overlying half
a secure Wi-Fi network or changing the frequency of alarms.
screens to avoid losing context when
the SIP Keyboard is displayed.
Keeping Application Settings brief and clear should be a design goal.
Complex, multi-page, multi-level Application Settings can frustrate or If a task cannot be undone, always
confuse users into thinking that they have entered another application provide the user with an option to
entirely. cancel. Text entry is an example.

Actions that overwrite or delete

data, or are irreversable must have a
“Cancel” button.

When using additional screens with

commit and cancel buttons, clicking
those buttons should perform the
associated action and return the user to
the main settings screen.

To keep the heading of settings control

panels consistent, the heading for the
settings page should look as follows:

SETTINGS

<CPL Name/ Application Name>

Applications that fetch data over

the network must have an option to
disable data usage.

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70 Input methods 71

Windows Phone 7 applications can support multiple methods of input:

• Touch

• On-screen keyboard

• Hardware keyboard

• Microphone

• Phone hardware buttons

• Sensors

While not every feature of every input method is available to developers

since some are system-reserved, developers should consider each area
for applicability to the UI for their applications.

Additional topics in this guide provide greater detail for each input
method.

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72 Touch input 73

Touch input is a core experience of Windows Phone 7 and has inherent Do not use gestures as a shortcut to
differences from traditional keyboard and mouse input systems. Designed a task, and only use a gesture in a
for natural and intuitive user interaction, touch input in Windows Phone manner as it was intended. See the
Supported Touch Gestures topic for
7 enables users to interact with application content such as a photo or a
gesture definitions.
web page. Touch input enables simple and consistent user touch gestures
that imitate real life behavior, such as panning on a photo to move it. All basic or common tasks should be
Single-touch gestures make interaction easier with one hand, but multi- completed using a single finger.
touch gestures are also available to provide more advanced gesture
Touch controls should respond to touch
functionality. immediately. A touch control that lags
or that seems slow when transitioning
Application developers should strive to create unique and exciting experi- will have a negative impact on the user
ences that encourage the discovery of content through the use of touch experience.
gestures. Users should enjoy the experience of navigating through the
steps of a task as well as the completion of the task itself. Touch gestures Provide immediate visual or auditory
feedback to indicate interaction
should provide a delightful, more colorful, intuitive experience within ap-
with the touch control. All actions
plications should have immediate and obvious
consequence by responding while the
Touch delights the senses as the user gets to see the interaction match gesture happens, not afterwards. A
the performance. The touch UI should always have aware and responsive bad example would be a user flicking a
performance, just like how real world objects respond to touch immedi- photo and the movement occurs after
ately, and applications on Windows Phone 7 should as well, by performing the gesture is completed.
the action in real time and by providing immediate feedback that an event
For time consuming processes,
or process is occurring. Users should not have to wait as it breaks their developers should elegantly provide
immersion, flow, and concentration, especially as their gestures transition feedback to indicate that something is
from one to the other. For example, a pan may turn into a flick or a tap happening by using content to indicate
can become a double tap, and the user should not be aware that the UI is progress, or consider using a progress
switching gesture support. bar or raw notification as a last resort.
For example, show more and more of
While this topic provides general touch guidance for customizing UI visual the content as it is being downloaded.
elements, Microsoft recommends that developers use standard Metro-in- Response to gestures should be
spired touch controls that are available in the Windows Phone Developer consistent across the phone and
Tools and always follow the guidance when creating custom controls. Win- within an application. Using the
dows Phone Developer Tool controls have been properly sized for touch touch controls in the Windows
interaction based on the guidelines presented in this section. There are Phone Developer Tools will help with
maintaining consistency as they have
cases where touch UI control sizing will or should vary from the guidance,
built-in support for the touch gestures
such as with games, depending on the needs of the application. discussed in this topic. If developers
create custom touch controls, they
should respond to gestures in a similar
manner.

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74 Touch input 75

There are three components to the touch UI: Windows Phone 7 gestures align with
Windows desktop gestures. There
1) Touch target – the area that is defined to accept touch input is some intentional variability due
and is not visible to the user to the differences in screen size and
the Windows desktop support of the
2) Touch element – the visual indicator of the touch target that is mouse. These differences are mostly
visible to the user around editing shortcuts, which can
be potentially addressed by using
3) Touch control – a touch target that is combined with a touch the on-screen keyboard. Applications
for Windows Phone 7 should try to
element that the user touches
align with the gesture experience of
the corresponding Windows desktop
Touch targets should not be smaller than 9 mm or 34 pixels square and
application.
provide at least 2 mm or 8 pixels between touchable controls. In excep-
tional cases, controls can be smaller but never more than 7 mm or 26 Gesture extensibility is not supported.
pixels square. The on-screen keyboard and hyperlinks in Windows Phone® Developers can only use the supported
Internet Explorer® are an exception because they have differently sized hit gestures and replicate movement as
specified.
targets.
Every touch control should be able
Touch targets should be larger than 9 mm when: to be comfortably touched with a
finger. This involves manipulating size,
• It is a frequently touched control spacing, location, and visuals to reduce
the difficulty in acquiring a target
• Touching it could create a severe error or have a destructive through finger touch.
consequence
Touch targets should not be smaller
• The user could become frustrated if they cannot touch it than 9 mm or 34 pixels square and
provide at least 2 mm or 8 pixels
• It is close to the edge of the screen between touchable controls. In
exceptional cases, controls can be
• It requires sequential or multiple inputs between adjacent touch smaller but never more than 7 mm or
controls. 26 pixels square.

For touch and non-touch UI elements that have special sizing or position- Touch targets should be larger
than 9mm when touch controls are
ing constraints, layouts may need to be adjusted or additional application
frequently touched, create a severe
pages may need to be created to accommodate the minimum touch target error such as sending an incomplete
sizes. message, have a destructive
consequence such as deleting data,
frustrate the user such as navigating to
another screen accidentally, are within
3.5 mm of the edge of the screen, or
require sequential or multiple inputs
between adjacent touch controls.

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76 Touch input 77

The touch target can be larger than the

touch element, but never be smaller
than it, and the touch element must
never be smaller than 60% of the touch
target.

Use oblong controls in vertically

constrained UIs, as these shapes are
easier to hit. The touch target height
can be as small as 7 mm as long as the
width is at least 20 mm.

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78 Supported touch gestures 79

A touch gesture involves performing a movement with single or multiple

fingers on a touch screen. The tapping of a UI element such as a push
button is an example of a touch gesture. Touch gestures are the primary
method for a user to interact with the Windows Phone UI.

The controls provided in the Windows Phone Developer tools are used as
touch interaction elements and are properly sized for touch interaction.

The following single and multi-touch gestures are supported in Windows

Phone 7:

Single-touch:

• Tap

• Double Tap

• Pan

• Flick

• Touch and Hold

Multi-touch:

• Pinch and Stretch

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80 Tap 81

A tap is a single, brief touch on the screen within a bounded area and
back up again.

There are two behaviors associated with a tap gesture:

1. Finger down provides touch indication

2. Finger up executes the action

A tap also stops any type of content from moving on the screen.

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82 Double tap 83

A double tap is two quick taps within a bounded area.

A double tap toggles between in and out zoom states of a control or an

application. The application determines its current zoomed state and will
zoom in or zoom out accordingly. The zoomed-in and zoomed-out states
are defined by the application.

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84 Pan 85

A pan is a single finger placed down and moved across the screen in any
direction. The pan gesture ends when the finger is lifted from the screen.

There are two behaviors associated with a pan gesture:

1. Content can be moved through direct manipulation. It will stick to

and follow the movement of the finger. Controls or the application
can decide what panning direction to support. This movement can
be horizontal, vertical, or any other direction specified. If content is
moved to an in-between state, the content should snap back to the
closest state.

2. A pan can move or reorder a specific item. An item follows the

finger and drops in the new location when the finger is lifted.

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86 Flick 87

A flick is a single finger down moved rapidly in any direction and ends
with the finger up. A flick can follow a pan gesture.

A flick gesture moves content from one area to another area. The controls
or the application can be configured to support specific flicking directional
behavior. This can be horizontal, vertical, or another specified direction. If
horizontal or vertical paths are specified, movements in other directions
will be converted into vertical or horizontal movement.

Flick moves the whole canvas, but developers can specify individual
objects to be moved instead.

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88 Pinch and stretch 89

A pinch and stretch is two fingers down within separate bounded areas
followed by the fingers moving closer together (pinch) or further apart
(stretch).

Pinch and stretch provides continuous zoom on content with the center
of the zoom located at the center of the two fingers.

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90 Touch and hold 91

Touch and hold is a single finger down within a bounded area for The touch and hold gesture should
a defined period of time. generally be used to display a context
menu or options page for an item.

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92 Four touch points 93

Windows Phone supports four simultaneous user touch input points to Performance tune applications that
enable unique application interactions. Simple examples would be game support more than two simultaneous
or musical instrument applications. touch input points to ensure
application performance does not
Screen touches 7 mm or larger in diameter are treated as unique touches suffer.
when the edges of the touch are separated by 3.5mm or more, and all
gestures are supported.

Every touch point also adds additional processor load, so developers

implementing more than two simultaneous touch input points should be
aware of potential performance impacts. While Windows Phone supports
up to ten touch points, not all hardware screens will support more than
four touch points.

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94 On-screen keyboard 95

The On-Screen Keyboard is for text input and opens by sliding up When the On-Screen Keyboard is
automatically from the bottom of the screen when an editable control deployed in an application, it obscures
becomes active. When a user taps outside of the edit control, scrolls a list, content behind it.
or presses the Back Button, it closes by sliding down off the bottom of the If text suggestions are enabled, they
screen. If a phone has a Hardware Keyboard, (which is a phone manufac- are docked above the On-Screen
turer option,) and is deployed, the On-Screen Keyboard will automatically Keyboard and obscure content behind
close. it.

Windows Phone 7 supports only full alphabet layouts such as QWERTY, If a developer is using a multi-line
edit control, part of it may be hidden
AZERTY, and QWERTZ. 12/-20 key layouts are not supported.
behind the keyboard. A developer must
ensure that the line containing the
The phone features several typing aids such as text suggestions that ap-
caret is always in view and above the
pear above the keyboard, auto-correction, and context-specific keyboard keyboard.
layouts.
Developers should set an input scope
The On-Screen Keyboard is 336 pixels tall in portrait view and 256 pixels in edit fields to define the keyboard
tall in either landscape view. The text suggestion window is 65 pixels tall in type and enable the appropriate
both screen orientations. typing aides. For example, if a
developer chooses the URL input
The developer can define if an edit control is active, and whether or not scope, a keyboard layout will be shown
featuring a .com key. To accomplish
to deploy the On-Screen Keyboard when a page is navigated to.
this, you must set the input scope
property in your project for the text
When an edit control is active, the system will automatically scroll the
box or edit control.
editable control above the On-Screen Keyboard if it is a control from the
Windows Phone Developer Tools. Only deploy the keyboard
automatically if the application page
If the keyboard has an enter key and the current edit control is a single has no more than two edit controls
line, pressing the enter key can either submit the data and close the key- and the first edit control is a single-line
board or change focus to next edit control. If the edit control is multi-line, edit box. Do not automatically deploy
the keyboard if the page has content
pressing the enter key will add a new line.
or controls that would be obscured
behind the keyboard.

Do not change the padding inside edit

controls or override automatically
placed margins of controls places
near the edge of the screen. Changing
these values can lead to a non-uniform
method to select edit controls by
touch.

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96 On-screen keyboard 97

There are 8 different, context-specific, On-Screen Keyboard types that can

be used, depending upon the input scope desired:

Keyboard Type Layout

Default Standard QWERTY layout
Text Standard layout with ASCII based emoticons
Email Address Standard layout with .com and @ keys
Phone Number Typical 12-key layout
Web Address Standard layout with .com key and customized
Enter key
Maps Standard layout with a customized Enter key
Search Semi-transparent layout with a Search and
.com key
SMS Address Standard layout with easy access to phone
number layout

Developers cannot define their own keyboard types or modify existing

ones.

The Default, Text, and Maps keyboard types all automatically deploy with
the text suggestion window.

If an application takes up all or most of the screen area or has crowded

edit controls, it might be difficult for the user to tap outside of the control
to close the On-Screen Keyboard and view more content. The applica-
tion can automatically close the keyboard when the user tries to view the
content rather than type, such as when the user scrolls, when the active
edit control moves outside of the viewable area, or when the user presses
the Back Button. Another solution is to implement an edit view and a read
view and open or close the keyboard depending upon the view state.

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 98 Hardware keyboard 99

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Windows # alphabet
Phone 7 supports@only full $ %
layouts & as QWERTY,
such ( ) \ /
a s d f g h j k l a s d f g h j k l a s d f g h j k l
AZERTY, and QWERTZ. 12/-20 key layouts are not supported.

! ; : ‘ “ ? - ;
! for typing : ‘ “ letters,
?
`m
caps caps caps

z x c v b n m enter Theenter
Hardware Keyboard is only used letters, accented enter
z x c v b n m z x c v b n
numbers and symbols, and cannot be used to control the UI. The hard-
ware keyboard can include arrow keys that can move the caret within an
sym , space .  fn äé , space . sym However, thesefn
 control.
edit arrow äé ,
keys must not be usedspace
to move focus, .  sym
scroll lists, or navigate maps or web pages.

The following keys will always be available on the Hardware Keyboard:

• Letters (A-Z), Enter, Space, Backspace, Shift, emoticon, SYM,

^ [ ] { } < > € £ ¥ period, and comma.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
• Numbers (0-9) as either a primary or secondary character.
* - + = - ~ © ® ™
p q w e r t y u i o p • Accent key for German, French, Italian, and Spanish keyboards.

@ # $ % & ( ) \ / The following keys are not supported or allowed on the Hardware Key-
a s d f g h j k l board:

; : • A directional pad or any other navigation specific hardware.

r
caps
! ‘ “ ?
`m enter
z x c v b n
• The “OK & Home” and the “Send & End” hardware soft keys.

ym fn äé , space .  sym • The keys Delete, Insert, Control (CTRL), Alt, Caps Lock, Tab,
page up and down, and escape (ESC).

• The Start, Search, and Back Buttons as part of the keyboard.

The shift key allows for typing capital letters. There are 3 shift modes: On,
Off, and Lock (Caps Lock).

The emoticon key brings up the emoticons picker.

The accent key is used to type accented letters. When the accent key is
pressed, it adds an accent letter left of the caret. Multiple presses cycle

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 100 Hardware keyboard 101

^ [ ] { } < > € £ ¥
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
through the available accents. The function key (FN) plus the accent key
p
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 * - + = - ~ © ® ™ to the previous accent. Pressing and holding the accent key
cycles back
q w e r t y u i o p q w e r t y u i o p
displays an accent picker.
@ # $ % & ( ) \ / @ # $ % & ( ) \ /
Characters that are not available on the keyboard are accessible via a
a s d f g h j k l a s d f g h j k l
symbol picker that is launched by pressing the symbol key (SYM). Press-
; : - ; : ing and holding the SYM key displays the language picker. FN and SYM
caps
! ‘ “ ?
enter
caps
! ‘ “ ?
`m enterto the next language.
z x c v b n m z x c v b n switches

A Status Bar input indicator displays shift mode, FN mode, and active
fn äé , space .  sym fn äé , space .  sym
language.

Keyboard keys can be overloaded. Pressing and holding a key or using the
FN key allows the user to access secondary functionality.

When the symbol picker, accent picker, or language picker is launched,

they are displayed at the bottom part of the screen. They disappear after
a selection is made or after one second has elapsed.

Applications can use an API to query if the Hardware Keyboard is available

or deployed and act accordingly.

When the Hardware Keyboard is deployed, the On-Screen Keyboard will

close. If the device has a fixed hardware keyboard, the On-Screen Key-
board will not be displayed.

Text suggestions are also available for the Hardware Keyboard.

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102 Microphone 103

The Windows Phone 7 microphone has a frequency range from 150 Hz to

7 kHz.

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104 Phone hardware buttons 105

1 A Windows Phone has several hardware buttons positioned around the See specific Phone Hardware Button
device. Each button provides a unique function that may adjust or impact topics for guidance on how each
a running application. button can affect the UI.
2
1) Power/sleep

2) Volume up and volume down

3) Camera

4) Back

5) Start

6) Search

The Back, Start, and Search buttons can optionally be implemented as

capacitive touch buttons by phone manufacturers.

4 5 6

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106 Start button 107

When a user presses the Start button, it will take them to Start in the Developers do not have access to
phone user interface. Applications will receive an obscured event to pause. modify the Start button behavior
and their applications should always
be prepared to receive an obscured
event to pause after the Start button is
pushed.

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108 Search button 109

The hardware Search Button will launch the Bing search experience for the Use the SearchTask Class to launch Bing
user to find content from anywhere on the device. The search experience search from within an application.
will vary depending on the context of the user. The Bing search experi-
ence can be launched from Start, the App List, system applications, and
third-party applications. From select system applications such as Outlook,
an in-application search can be launched.

Developers cannot replicate in-application search, but can mimic a Search

Button push to launch the Bing search using the SearchTask Class.

Developers cannot modify or change the behavior of the Search Button.

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110 Back button 111

The hardware Back Button is used to navigate back on pages (screens) See the Navigation, Frames and Pages
within an application or between applications. The application allows the topic for additional guidance.
framework to perform the operation when the button is pressed. Also, the
Developers should only implement
Back Button can be used to close menus, dialogs, navigate to a previous Back Button behaviors that navigate
page, exit a search operation, or even switch applications. However, the back or dismiss context menus
principal usage is to navigate from the current page to the previous page. or modal dialog boxes. All other
implementations are prohibited.
See the Navigation, Frames, and Pages topic for more information about
the page navigation model in Windows Phone 7.

When a user navigates back out of the root page of an application, the
application will terminate.

The Back Button will not work as a backspace key to delete text input.

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112 Power button 113

The power button has several different behaviors depending on the state Developers do not have access to
of the phone: modify the Power button behavior and
their applications should always be
prepared to receive an obscured event
to pause or terminate after the Power
button is pushed.

Phone State Power Button Push Duration Behavior

Powered off Any Boots the phone
Powered on, screen unlocked, screen on < 3 seconds Locks and turns off screen
Powered on, screen locked, screen on < 3 seconds Turns screen off
Powered on, screen locked, screen off < 3 seconds Turns screen on
Any powered on state > 3 seconds and < 8 seconds Turns phone off via software shutdown
Any powered on state > 8 seconds Turns phone off via hardware shutdown

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114 Volume buttons 115

The hardware Volume Buttons are used to adjust the volume of either the
in-call conversation volume (if a phone call is active), or else the overall
device volume (if there is no active phone call), which includes music,
radio, video, application, ringtone, and system sound volume.

Pressing either Volume Button will expose the volume control, a 93 pixel
tall overlay at the top of the screen and may contain audio transport
controls such as previous and next if there is a media player active. It will
always contain a control to toggle the ringer setting on and off. This con-
trol affects the playback of the system sounds that the user can control in
the Ringtone and Sound settings screen.

If the phone is locked, the Volume Buttons are still active when media is
playing or there is a phone call in progress.

The buttons operate system-wide and volume settings carry through

into the application. This means that developers cannot have volumes set
higher than the user settings or override mute.

Pressing and holding a Volume Button will do a key press repeat and
incrementally increase or decrease the volume depending on the button
pushed.

When a user receives a phone call, touching either Volume Button will
silence the ringtone.

Developers cannot edit the audio transport controls overlay or override

the Volume Buttons behaviors.

Developers can control the volume of the audio stream they provide to
the system, including muting it.

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116 Camera button 117

The Camera Button is a dual action button supporting full and half button
press modes. When a user does a full button press, the phone will launch
the camera application. If the user does a half button press after the cam-
era application has launched, the auto-focus feature is enabled.

Within the Camera application, pushing the Camera Button will take
a photo when in camera mode or start or stop video capture when in
video mode.

If the user presses and holds the camera button for more than one
second when the device is in stand-by (screen off) or locked, the camera
application will launch.

Applications can programmatically launch the camera application by

calling the CameraCaptureTask Class.

Developers cannot modify or change the behavior of the Camera Button.

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118 Sensors 119

Every Windows Phone 7 phone contains the following sensors:

• Accelerometer

• A-GPS

• Proximity Sensor

• Camera

• Compass

• Light Sensor

While not every sensor is available to developers since some are system-
reserved, developers should consider each area for applicability to the UI
for their applications.

Additional topics in this guide provide greater detail for each sensor.

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120 Accelerometer 121

The Windows Phone 7 accelerometer is an electromechanical device Developers creating applications or

that measures acceleration caused by gravity or external sources to an games that require a higher level
accuracy of +/- 5 degrees. This 3D motion sensor provides continuous of precision and sensitivity from
the accelerometer should calibrate
information about the forces being applied to the device in the X, Y, and
accelerometer data.
Z planes.

A Windows Phone can leverage this feature to create sophisticated experi-

ences for the end user by calling managed APIs that are easy and flexible
to use. Developers can offer scenarios such as automatic screen rotation,
tilt-to-scroll, and gaming control within their applications.

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122 A-GPS 123

A-GPS (assisted global positioning system) is used to determine the

location of the phone and provides information to Location Services
on the phone.

There are no direct UI elements associated with A-GPS, but develop-

ers have access to Location Services in the System.Device.Location
namespace.

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124 Proximity sensor 125

The Proximity Sensor is used to power off the screen to conserve battery
when an object is detected within 15 mm of the sensor during a phone
call. Phone manufacturers have discretion as to where to place the sensor,
so its location may vary from phone to phone.

The sensor remains active when the phone is being used in speakerphone
mode, so it is possible to accidentally power off the screen if a finger or
object covers the sensor.

Developers do not have access to the Proximity Sensor or its behaviors.

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126 Camera 127

All Windows Phone 7 phones have a five megapixel or larger camera with
auto-focus and flash, and a 4:3 aspect ratio image sensor.

There are no direct UI elements associated with the Camera, but develop-
ers have access to the Camera in the Microsoft.Phone.Tasks namespace.

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128 Compass 129

The Compass is used to determine navigation direction relative to the

Earth’s magnetic field.

Developers do not have access to the Compass or its behaviors.

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130 Light sensor 131

The Light Sensor is used to determine the intensity of light up to 4,000 lux
and helps in automatically adjusting screen brightness. Developers do not
have access to the Light Sensor or its behaviors and there are no UI ele-
ments associated with it.

Image Source: NASA

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132 Output methods 133

1 Windows Phone 7 applications have multiple methods of output: If developers or designers require
precise millimeter sizing for UI
1) Audio output jack elements, consult the display
specifications provided by original
2) On-device speaker equipment manufacturers for the
proper pixels to millimeters conversion
3) On-device screen factor. See the topic, A Note on Units
– Pixels vs. Millimeters for more
4) Vibration information.

Developers should consider each area for applicability to the UI for their Consult the display specifications
applications. provided by original equipment
manufacturers for screen bit depth.
3 All Windows Phone 7 phones will have at least 16-bit (5 red, 6 green, 5
blue) WVGA screens at 800 x 480 pixel resolution, no matter the screen
size. Phone manufacturers have the option to use higher bit depth
screens, but there is no programmatic way to query for bit depth.

The vibration unit can be turned on or off by the user in the Ringtones
and Sounds preferences and this setting cannot be overridden.

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134 FM radio 135

All Windows Phone 7 phones have a built-in FM radio tuner. Develop- Use the base Silverlight controls in the
ers will need to create the UI for the service, as there are no built-in UI Windows Phone Developer Tools to
components. build application UIs.

Applications cannot lock the frequency

or region of the FM radio tuner;
therefore, developers should poll the
API prior to displaying the UI to refresh
the frequency or region values of the
tuner in case another application has
changed the values.

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136 Windows phone application interface controls 137

The Silverlight® UI framework delivered on Windows Phone 7 is the next If you need to create your own user
step in the evolution of Silverlight and enables a new class of mobile actionable control, please adhere to
design experiences. Silverlight harnesses the power of .NET and includes the general Metro styling guidance
as discussed in the first section of this
numerous controls, rich layout, and styling. It also supports vector-based
guide, Philosophy of the UI and Design.
graphics and animation APIs. Select Silverlight controls have been themed
with a new exciting look explicitly for the Windows Phone 7 platform. De- Use the Windows Phone Design
velopers can use their previous Silverlight and .NET development experi- Templates as visual guides for creating
ence to facilitate working with this mobile control set and apply it to their custom controls that mimic system
controls.
Windows Phone 7 applications.

The following topics list the Silverlight controls in the Windows Phone De-
veloper Tools, including controls that do not have UI components but can
affect other parts of the UI. Refer to specific control topics for a detailed
overview and guidance for each. This guide only focuses on controls that
impact the phone UI and does not exhaustively cover every Silverlight
control available in the Windows Phone Developer Tools, as UI guidance
exists elsewhere for those controls.

User set system theming flows down automatically into all controls avail-
able in the Windows Phone Developer Tools.

Developers may also create their own controls as needed and these con-
trols may replicate system controls that are not available as a part of the
Windows Phone Developer Tools. See the Visual Design Resources topic
for graphic design templates for system controls that developers may wish
to mimic.

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138 Border 139

Provides a border, background, or both to another control. A border can Do not hard-code the border width.
button contain only one child element. Use the phone border width to support
screen scaling.

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140 Push button 141

A button initiates an action when a user taps on it. The shape is usually Buttons support the tap gesture.
rectangular and the standard layout allows for either text or an image
If using text, buttons should never
to be displayed.
include more than two words.
Buttons support rest, press, and disabled states. Text should be concise and typically a
verb.
There is no visible focus state.
When used in dialog boxes, “OK” or
positive actions should be on the left,
and “Cancel” or negative actions on the
right.

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142 Canvas 143

Provides a surface to display child elements at specific coordinates in the Canvas uses a pixel-based layout
canvas. and can provide better performance
than using the grid control for deeply
embedded or nested controls in layout
passes for applications that do not
change orientations. Use the grid
control if the application frame needs
to grow, shrink, or rotate.

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144 Check box 145

Check boxes are used to define a binary state and can be used in groups Even though the control can support
to display multiple choices from which the user can select one or more multiple lines, limit text to either a
choices. A user can either tap a check box or the accompanying text to one or two line format for design
consistency.
select an option.
If there are several choices to present
The control supports an indeterminate state that can be used to com- to a user, consider using a scroll viewer
municate checked and unchecked status simultaneously for a number of and adding a stack panel.
underlying items.
Microsoft does not recommend the
Check boxes support rest, press, and disabled states for both selected use of the indeterminate state because
and un-selected settings. the user could be confused about
which of the underlying property items
There is no visible focus state. is actually checked or unchecked. A
more appropriate alternative is to map
the data sources for that checkbox to
separate checkboxes or use a multi-
selection list, particularly if a dynamic
data set is used.

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146 Content control 147

Represents a control with a single piece of content of any type. Many

controls derive from Content Control and can contain objects, such as
a Button.

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148 Content presenter 149

Displays the content of a Content Presenter.

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150 Grid 151

Provides a surface that is composed of rows and columns to display child Using the grid control for deeply
elements. You define the rows and columns for a grid, then, assign objects embedded or nested controls in layout
to a specific row or column in the grid. You can optionally display gridlines. passes for applications that do not
change orientations or grow or shrink
the viewable area can lead to degraded
performance. Use the canvas control if
the application frame does not need to
grow, shrink, or rotate.

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152 Hyperlink 153

The hyperlink control allows you to embed hypertext links in a page and Only use the Hyperlink control for
specify a navigation target. navigation, not to trigger events, or
hide or show additional text. To trigger
The control supports rest, press, and disabled states. events, use a button control instead.

There is no visible focus state. Avoid placing hyperlinks close to each

other. Doing so may make it difficult
for the user to select an individual link
without zooming.

Hyperlink controls should only use a

disabled state if the state is temporary,
such as other system processes are
occurring, or if the state can be
changed to enabled by a user action.

A link that is disabled and cannot be

enabled by user action should not be
displayed.

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154 Image 155

The image control displays an image in PNG or JPEG format and displays
indexed images with 1, 4, or 8 bit color-depth or true color images with 24
or 32 bit color-depth.

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156 InkPresenter 157

InkPresenter provides a primitive drawing surface to collect strokes or InkPresenter does not support
Bézier curves within a canvas control. handwriting recognition.

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158 ListBox 159

A ListBox control contains a collection of items. You can populate the

control by binding it to a data source or displaying unbound items. The
ListBox is an items control, which means that you can populate it with
items that contain text or other controls.

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160 MediaElement 161

A MediaElement control provides a rectangular region that can display Do not use this control for sound
video on its surface, or plays audio if no video is present. effects in your application; use the XNA
Framework SoundEffect API instead or
your application will fail certification.
This is because the MediaElement will
interrupt and halt any audio that is
playing in the background.

Do use this control for full-screen video

playback, or in other situations where
background audio would be halted.

Only one MediaElement can be active

at a time.

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162 Multi scale image 163

Multi Scale Image enables users to open a multi-resolution image that can Developers must implement gestures
be scaled and repositioned for detailed viewing. By default, an image that when using this control because it does
is loaded by Multi Scale Image zooms (expands) when first loaded. This not have any gesture support built-in.
behavior can be disabled by setting the UseSprings property to false.

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164 Panorama 165

Panorama applications are a part of the core Windows Phone OS 7.0 Microsoft will provide a control
visual experience. Unlike standard applications that are designed to fit and design template to support
within the confines of the phone screen, these applications offer a unique building Panoramas at a later date.
Microsoft recommends that designers
way to view controls, data, and services by using a long horizontal canvas
and developers wait to implement
that extends beyond the confines of the screen. These inherently dynamic Panoramas until final guidance is
applications use layered animations and content so that layers smoothly available and to use the following
pan at different speeds, similar to parallax effects. information for planning purposes
only.
Thumbnails are a main element of the panoramic view. They link to con-
tent or media that is consumed outside of the panoramic experience. For Panoramas:

Use either a single color background

Elements of a panoramic application serve as the starting point for more
or an image that spans the entire
detailed experiences. The element flow example is not indicative of plat- panorama. If you decide to use an
form functionality, but rather the end-user experience. As an example, image, any UI image type that is
while an application that is launched from a panorama application might supported by Silverlight is acceptable,
be what the end-user sees; the launched application is actually just a dif- but JPEGs are recommended, as they
ferent view of the same panorama application. generally have smaller file sizes than
other formats.
The user interface consists of layer types that operate with their own inde-
You can use multiple images as a
pendent motion logic: a background image, a panorama title, panorama background, but you should note that
section titles, and panorama sections. Thumbnails complete the experi- only one image should be displayed at
ence and are a main element of the panoramic view. They link to content any given time.
or media that is consumed outside of the panoramic experience.
Background images should be between
The background image is the lowest layer and is meant to give the 480 x 800 pixels and 1024 x 800
pixels (width x height) to ensure good
panorama its rich magazine-like feel. Usually a full-bleed image, the
performance, minimal load time, and
background is potentially the most visual part of the application. no scaling.

The panorama title is the title of the overall panorama application. It is Use a 16 x 9 aspect ratio for a
meant to let the user identify the application and should be visible no panorama application that has four
matter how they enter the application. sections.

Panorama sections are the component of the panoramic application that Use a transparent black or white filter
to aid text legibility.
encapsulates other controls and content. Panorama sections move at the
same rate as the finger pan or flick. Use a rate of motion that is relative
to the panning gesture, which is
A panorama section title is optional for any given panorama section. determined by the total width of the
top content layer relative to the width
of the background image.

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166 Panorama 167

Wrap off and then back onto the visible

area when the user pans beyond the
width of the image.

For Panorama Titles:

Use either plain text or images, such as

a logo, for the panorama title. You can
also use multiple elements, such as a
logo and text (or other UI elements).

Ensure that the font or image

color for the title works across the
entire background and that it is not
dependent on the background image
for visibility. Use the system fonts
and styles unless there is a need for a
specific branded experience that uses a
different font, size or color.

Use the same panorama title for the

launch tile in Start for consistency.

Avoid animating the panorama title or

dynamically changing its size.

Use a rate of motion for the panorama

title that is slow relative to the topmost
content layer, and slower than the
background art.

For Panorama Section Titles:

Use plain text for panorama section

titles. Alternatively, you can use
images. You can use multiple elements,
such as an image and text (or other
UIElements).

Ensure that the panorama section title

is not dependent on the background
art.

Avoid animated panorama section

titles because the title will be moving.

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168 Panorama 169

Span the entire panorama section

with panorama section titles, even if
multiple controls are present.

Animate panorama section titles off

the screen when a user navigates to a
new section.

A panorama section’s title should act

differently depending on whether the
section’s width is greater than or less
than the width of the screen. If the
section’s width is greater, there should
be a horizontal animation. That is, the
title should not stay in the top left of
the section, but rather it should move
at a different speed along the top while
the panorama is moving. Under these
circumstances, there should not be
vertical scrolling. Alternatively, if the
section’s width is less than the screen
width, the title should always be set to
the top left of the section. Under these
circumstances, there should not be
any horizontal animation and, the title
should move along with the content.

For Panorama Sections:

Vertical scrolling through a list or grid

in panorama sections is acceptable as
long as it is within the confines of the
section and is not in parallel with a
horizontal scroll.

Animate panorama sections off the

screen when a user navigates to a new
section.

Consider hiding panorama sections

until they have content to display.

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170 Panorama 171

For thumbnails, use cropped images

that highlight an identifiable subject
rather than an entire image. If the
image is not identifiable without text,
up to two lines of text can be used to
identify the content.

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172 Password box 173

The Password Box control displays content and allows the user to type or To add an input scope for an on-screen
edit the contents. An entered character appears briefly and is obfuscated keyboard, configure the input scope
to a bullet when the next character is entered or after two seconds. property on the password box control.

Gestures supported:
The on-screen keyboard appears automatically when focus is set in the
password box unless the phone has a hardware keyboard. • Tap – for focus and selection

• Tap and hold – for precise

caret insertion

Is explias ini dolo beatis incto cullis deles

untus sam et duciis exceptam adissit, quam
veliqui busdae venes sam harcite cernatum
faceser ionseque dolupta vendam nam
quatiberovit faceped maio volentium debis
modissi tem nos rerum, et aborehenisci
audionsed quam

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174 Pivot 175

A pivot control provides a quick way to manage views or pages within the Microsoft will provide a control and
application. This control can be used for filtering large datasets, view- design template to support building
ing multiple data sets, or switching application views. The control places pivot experiences at a later date.
Microsoft recommends that designers
individual views horizontally next to each other, and manages the left and
and developers wait to implement
right navigation. Flicking or panning horizontally on the page cycles the pivot experiences until final guidance
pivot functionality. is available and to use the following
information for planning purposes only.
The content of the page inside the pivot control is defined by the applica-
tion. Never place a pivot control inside of
another pivot control.

Never place a pivot control inside of

a panorama control.

Applications should minimize the

number of pivot pages. Users can
become lost if they jump from pivot
page to pivot page. Use pivot controls
sparingly and limit the use of pivot
pages to scenarios where it
is appropriate for the experience.

Pivot pages should not be used for

task flow. Different pages should
flow seamlessly in terms of look and
feel and user activity should not be
changed drastically.

Pivot pages must not override the

horizontal pan and flick functionality as
it collides with the interaction design of
the pivot control.

There is no limit on the text length of

the pivot header. The amount of text
that is displayed is constrained by the
width of the pivot control.

The pivot header is a fixed height and

cannot be changed.

The pivot control should only be used

to display items or data of similar type.

An empty pivot page should only be

removed when there is no chance that
additional information can be added
through user action.

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176 Progress bar 177

The progress bar is a control that indicates the progress of an operation. The use of a progress bar is optional,
You can use the control to show generic progress, or progress that changes but consider adding one if there are
according to a value. wait states in your application that do
not require user interaction.
It supports a marquee (indeterminate) mode.

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178 Radio button 179

A radio button is used to represent a set of related, but mutually exclusive The tap gesture switches between
choices. The user taps on the radio button description text or glyph to selected and un-selected settings.
select the control. Only one option may be selected at a time.
Radio button description text can wrap
to a second line, but try to use either a
The radio button control implements rest, press, and disabled states for
single or double-line format for design
both selected and un-selected settings. consistency.

There is no visible focus state. Use a scroll panel instead if there are
several choices for the user.

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180 Scroll viewer 181

The scroll viewer allows users to navigate to content that is not directly The Scroll Viewer supports pan and
viewable within the frame of the application, such as a long section of text flick gestures.
or image.

When scrolling, scroll indicators will fade in as the user pans or flicks and
fade out after a second at the end of the gesture, but the scroll indicators
are non-user actionable.

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182 Slider 183

A slider control is used to set a value from a continuous range of data Applications can use either a horizontal
such as volume or brightness levels. The slider has a minimum and or vertical slider, but a horizontal slider
a maximum increment value. is recommended.

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184 Stack panel 185

Provides a surface to display child elements in a line; either horizontally or Padding may be required to prevent
vertically. crowding or overlapping when placing
text that is not part of a control in a
StackPanel.

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186 Text block 187

The Text Block displays a fixed amount of text and is used to label con- Always use one of the Windows Phone
trols or control groups. The text block stays the same for all states of the OS 7.0 predefined text styles instead
related control and supports word wrapping. of hard coding font size, color, weight,
or name to support future screen
resolutions or sizes.

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188 Text box 189

The Text Box control displays content and allows the user to type or edit Text boxes may be set to read only, but
the contents. should generally be used for editable
text.
Text boxes may display a single or multiple lines. Multiple line text boxes
The on-screen keyboard appears
will wrap text to the size of the control.
automatically when focus is set in
the text box unless the phone has a
hardware keyboard.

Gestures supported:

• Tap – for focus and selection

• Tap and hold – for precise

caret insertion

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190 User interface text guidelines 191

Lorum ipsum
The Metro design elevates text to a primary UI element and having in- Review the Voice and Tone,
formed, cleaner, and friendlier text for users will help applications parallel Terminology, Capitalization, and
the native Windows Phone 7 text format. Punctuation sections for specific
guidance in those areas.
Alit modit eat. Sa doloraes dolor anis maiosam Using the Metro style in voice and tone, terminology, capitalization, and

inventorum et aut eium quistius explitiis dit punctuation will add an extra layer of fit and finish to any application and
can significantly enhance usability of the application by the user.
am harchici utent adite comnihilis eiusae ma
pa dolorerfere, sitatem hil istione stisquae et
illacepudis isto tet molupienet quis sit, tem ea
volupta speleni stiusan dentus endae dem quia
secessed ene etusa poria si offic tem fugit, nest,
tem aut vollaut vendiat volut aute pos vollorest
quo od que nam delibea tumquibus none
vendestrum harum sit que doloreium quid et
occum dolorectinis eniminu stinvende dolest,
sere, aliquibus doluptatquia et lacia voluptat
aut lamus dolore dolutatem sed et iligent es
seditam sum erferit, tecabo.

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192 Text guidelines – voice and tone 193

Many users consider text displayed on computers to be another language Do not use computerese – jargon,
called computerese, a jargon-filled, soulless, completely impenetrable for- hexadecimal error codes, or text that
eign language that torments them by hindering their ability to complete assumes computer knowledge.
tasks and asks nonsensical questions in dialog boxes. Use an authentic and clear voice, and
reflect the language that is used by the
Windows Phone 7 banishes computerese entirely and developers should audience.
as well. The Windows Phone 7 voice and tone should be human, clear and
consistent. Use friendly, lighthearted, and
empathic tones. Never use an angry or
Voice refers to the personality within the text. For example, the voice of mechanical tone in the application.
the writer would be their overall personality expressed by what they write.
If an application has many text strings,
consider consulting with a technical
Tone is the overall mood of the text such as happy or angry. The Windows
writer or editor to review the text
Phone 7 tone is friendly, lighthearted, and empathic. strings.

One method to check if text has the proper voice and tone would be to
see if it sounds like a friend assisting another friend with something on the
phone. An example would be helping them understand an error mes-
sage that appears in the application. A developer shouldn’t offer a rigid,
uninformative response when trying to explain an issue such as, “Error
Code: 4B696C626F.” Many people could be confused or frustrated by that
message, as it provides no context or potential solution. However, some-
thing such as, “There is some info missing here. Please enter your name
in the text box to move to the next page,” is clear, friendly and provides a
helpful suggestion.

It is imperative to give users a meaningful response in a casual, com-

prehensible manner. Help them fix the problem in a way that they can
understand.

Consider the string, “Synchronize the phone device.” It sounds mechani-

cal and stilted. Instead, “Sync your phone,” sounds much more like what
someone would tell a friend to do.

Another example is, “Schedule a calendar event for tomorrow through

Outlook.” It is neither friendly nor representative of how a friend would
speak. An alternative could be “Set up an appointment for tomorrow in
Outlook.”

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194 Text guidelines – capitalization 195

A
Windows Phone 7 displays text in lowercase and all caps layouts in many Maintain consistent capitalization
places, but also uses title caps, where the first and last words of the phrase practices to prevent a disjointed or
and all words in between are capitalized, and sentence caps, where only jagged reading experience.
the first word of a sentence is capitalized. Use lowercase for:
lit modit eat. Sa doloraes dolor anis Title caps exceptions are articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions • Page titles
maiosam inventorum et aut eium quistius (and, but, for, not, or, so, yet), and prepositions with four or fewer letters
(at, for, in, into). An example would be “Neon Tetras in My Fish Tank.” • List titles
explitiis dit am harchici utent adite comnihilis Sentence caps exceptions are words that would be normally capitalized in
• List group titles

eiusae ma pa dolorerfere, sitatem hil istione text such as proper nouns or feature names. An example would be “I want • Push button control text or words

stisquae et illacepudis isto tet molupienet

to visit Mt. Rainier in the springtime.” that function as commands

• List items
quis sit, tem ea volupta speleni stiusan dentus • Example text that appears in search
endae dem quia secessed ene etusa poria si boxes

offic tem fugit, nest, tem aut vollaut vendiat • Link controls in the middle of a
sentence
volut aute pos vollorest quo od que nam Use sentence caps for:
delibea tumquibus none vendestrum harum • Check box and radio button labels

sit que doloreium quid et occum dolorectinis • Progress indicators

eniminu stinvende dolest, sere, aliquibus • Status, notification, and

explanatory text
doluptatquia et lacia voluptat aut lamus • Toggle switches
dolore dolutatem doluptatur arcipidunt adictur Use all caps for:
sincimos eati audignis nim dolorita coribus • Application titles

• Dates and times

• AM or PM

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196 Text guidelines – punctuation 197

Reading UI text that has no punctuation or poor punctuation can lead to Maintain consistent punctuation
severe user confusion and frustration. Punctuation helps to clarify ambig- to prevent the user from becoming
uous sentences, places emphasis where it needs it, and provide hints confused, clarify ambiguous text, and
provide direct emphasis as needed.
to the reader about the context of the words they read.
The following table shows the standard
Compare “Coconuts healthy organic and delicious” to “Coconuts: healthy, rules of punctuation for UI elements.
organic, and delicious.” and “Slowly quietly unbuckle it cables kick” to
“Slowly & quietly unbuckle it – cables kick!” In these examples, punctua-
tion reveals a tasty snack hidden in nonsense and emphasizes a potential

... & . ? ! ( )
danger.

Punctuation Mark Usage Guidelines

Ampersand (&) Okay to use in settings or menu lists, for example: Date & Time; Clocks & Alarms.
Colon (:) • Do not use a colon at the end of labels for controls such as text boxes, drop-down
lists, and progress bars.
• Do not use a colon when the text box or drop-down list is embedded in a sentence or
when the drop-down list appears in a main window.
• Do not use a colon at the end of group headings or column headings.
• Use a colon to introduce numbers or other variables, for example: Percent Down-
loaded: XX%
Ellipsis (...) • Use an ellipsis in progress indicator labels to indicate a continuing action, for example,
when the user is downloading a file. Even if there is a visual of a progress indicator, you
will still want to use the ellipsis.
• Do not use an ellipsis in headings.
• Do not use an ellipsis in button labels.
End punctuation (. ? !) • Use end punctuation only in instructional text in the UI. Do not use end punctuation if
instructional text appears in a title bar or button.
• Do not use a period at the end of option or check box text labels, even if the label is a
sentence.
• Separate sentences with one space after the ending punctuation, not with two spaces.
• End a question with a question mark. But in general, avoid phrasing labels as ques-
tions.
• It is okay to use a question mark at the end of a title for an error message or dialog
box.
Parenthesis () Avoid using a parenthesis in the UI if possible, but use a parenthesis if you need to
include an acronym or other short piece of information.

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198 Miscellaneous 199

Windows Phone 7 has other hardware features available not previously

mentioned, including:

• Bluetooth

• Camera flash

• Camera LED

• Micro SD

• Micro USB

• Wi-fi

All of these features have no direct UI components and developers will

need to create custom UI elements if they need to represent them within
their application.

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