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Banner and title bars

The banner, which appears at the top of the Home screen, displays the following items:

  • Date, time, and wireless service provider
  • Application notifications, such as the alarm indicator, missed call count indicator, unopened message count indicator, and third-party indicators
  • Wireless connection indicators, such as the wireless coverage level, network coverage, Bluetooth indicator, Wi-Fi connection indicator, and roaming indicator
  • Battery power indicator
  • Sound profile indicator
  • Search icon

The theme that users select on their BlackBerry device determines the design of the Home screen banner.

Although you cannot add a banner to your application, you can add an indicator to the banner to provide a notification or to communicate important information about the status of your application. For example, you can include an unopened message indicator and count to provide users with new message information.

This illustration shows the items that can appear on a banner.

You can add a title bar to the top of your application screens to help orient users. Most title bars contain only a title but title bars can display the following items:

  • Application icon, descriptive title, and time
  • Application notifications, such as a new message indicator
  • Wireless connection indicators, including the wireless coverage level, network coverage, GPS indicator, Bluetooth indicator, and Wi-Fi connection indicator
  • Battery power indicator
  • Active call indicator
This illustration shows a title bar in the Media application.

Best practice: Implementing title bars

  • If you want to add an icon to the title bar, consider adding the icon only to the title bar that appears on the first screen in an application. This approach allows you to add a branded element to the title bar as well as help users differentiate the top screen in your application.
  • Include the time in title bars if users need to refer to the time often in order to use the application.
  • Include wireless connection indicators in title bars if the application requires a wireless connection.
  • Include application notifications and wireless connection notifications in title bars if users typically stay in the application for a long period of time.
  • Consider including the battery power indicator in title bars if the application significantly impacts battery life. By default, the battery power indicator appears only when the battery power level is low or if the battery is charging.
  • Use title case capitalization.
Related reference
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