Content is king

Be very selective about chrome

Shine the spotlight on what people really care about. Let it be front and center, with nothing to obscure or clutter the scene. Throw the shutters wide open and let people enjoy the view.

People care about content - pictures, messages, and updates. Be very selective about adding UI components to your screens. Reserve the majority of the screens for people to interact with the content in your application. This approach is especially important for BlackBerry smartphones with a physical keyboard because the screen size is smaller than all-touch BlackBerry smartphones. The goal is to create an experience where content is maximized and the displayed user options are kept to a minimum, while at the same time allowing users maximum freedom of control. For example:

• Allow pictures to display in the full size of the screen. A tap on the screen can display an action bar with the most common actions for the picture. The action bar disappears after a few seconds of inactivity, allowing the picture to display in the full size of the screen.
• When the content is obvious, ask yourself if titles are necessary. For example, in the recent call list, we removed the “Today” title since the "Yesterday" title makes the "Today" section obvious.

You can place frequently used UI components on the screen, but do so judiciously. Be aware that every time you add a UI component to the screen, you are showing people less of what they care about.