User Guide

CHAPTER 5
Icons
5-8 Extras Drawer Icons
Extras Drawer Icon Size 5
To maximize the number of icons visible at once, the Extras Drawer puts
very little space between the icons in it. An application icon will be easier to
recognize if it does not occupy all the space available to it in the Extras
Drawer. Icons that fill their entire allotted space appear crowded and piglike.
Sorry! A Newton PDA is not a desktop computer. Five icons take the same
space in the Extras Drawer as just three and a half icons in a Mac OS
™
folder
window. Figure 5-6 compares large and small icons in the Extras Drawer.
Figure 5-6 Large icons crowd the Extras Drawer
On an Apple MessagePad, the maximum size for an icon in the Extras Drawer
is 29 pixels by 29 pixels, but smaller icons generally look better. A full-size
square icon looks too tall, and may appear to be uncomfortably close to the
icons above and below it. You should give your icon breathing room by
making the body of the icon no bigger than 25 × 25. Use the four-pixel margin
for sparse decorative accents or for visual irregularities that extend somewhat
beyond the central part of the icon and give it a distinct shape. You can also
use the extra space around a 25 × 25 icon for a mask that animates the icon
(see “Animating an Extras Drawer Icon” on page 5-9).
Prefer 25 x 25 or smaller Avoid full 29 x 29 size