4. Contents of the layout

The content of any layout is the responsibility of the application itself. It's impossible to set up guidelines which cover each case. But there are some general points that should be considered for each application.

4.1 Colouring

Colouring anything usually enhances the readability but colour may never be the only visible info. Colour info must always be accompanied by other visible distinctions, i.e. bold, inverse or boxed. There are still some monochromes devices out there and there are colour blind people.

4.2 Used fonts

Regardless what type of application only a single font should be used. Only if a different font carries essential info, i.e. a proportional font displays description while a mono-spaced font displays code, several fonts can be used. Still it is preferable to use styles like italics instead of choosing another font.

Don't mix fancy fonts with normal fonts. While it's okay to use one or several fancy fonts for a game, standard fonts for tools are better (i.e. clearer).

4.3 Field sizes

When you decide on how large a field should become, consider what the field contains. If the field holds a image with a dimension in pixels it's fine to declare the size of the field also in pixels. But if the field contains text it should be declared in font units. Since font units usually aren't available it can be computed the following ways:

• Determine the average char width and multiply it with the count chars
• Declare a dummy text containing the most common case and get its width

Sample code: Average char width

Sample code: Dummy text width

Take care that sizes of different fields have a recognizable relationship. Make the difference in steps, i.e. 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 3x, ... of the smallest field. Make long fields exceptional long, field with a defined content (i.e. always 2 char) exactly fitting.