Palm Programming: The Developer's Guide

Designing Applications for Palm Devices

As you can see from the way its handhelds are designed, Palm Computing was convinced that a handheld device will be successful if it is:

• Small (fits into a shirt pocket)

• Inexpensive (doesn’t cost more than a few hundred bucks)

• Able to integrate seamlessly with a desktop computer by placing the handheld in a convenient cradle

These design decisions are only one part of the solution, however. The other part is the software. Palm devices are popular because they contain useful, fast applications and because they are extensible. There were lots of personal organizers before Palm Computing came along. The difference is that those old devices weren’t easily extensible—third-party applications couldn’t be added. The magic of Palm devices is therefore two-fold. The built-in applications cover a wide range of general activities, giving users access to names, a date book, a to do list, and so on. Crucial, however, is the second part: the platform is also open to other developers. Knowing how important other applications were, Palm provided tools and enough material to gain a wide developer following. These developers, in turn, have added lots of specialized applications. Everybody—Palm, developers, users—benefits.

Essential Design Elements

We spent so much time discussing the history of Palm devices, what makes them popular, and features they don’t have because these issues are crucial to your understanding of the design philosophy behind a Palm OS application. ...