Graphics For Mobile Developers

Developing PDA applications is different from coding for desktop platforms. There are numerous mobile platforms, each powered by their own hardware and operating system. Every platform sets its own requirements on the visual design of user interfaces. PDA screens differ in resolutions and color depth, often demanding exotic formats and sizes for graphical elements. Windows Mobile has its own requirements, while Symbian phones and handheld devices employ different sizes and formats of icons. Are you up to the challenge of making your own icons for the multitude of mobile devices?

While VGA resolution is used on many of today's mobile devices, 320x240 and lower screen sizes are still more common on low-end mobile devices as well as on many mobile phones. You simply can't use desktop-resolution graphics on these platforms, or you'd be wasting precious screen space.


Serious mobile developers need their graphics in a number of formats, resolutions and color depths to suit the requirements of various mobile devices. Windows Mobile supports graphics in ICO format, while Symbian demands for BMP or even MBM (Symbian OS multiple bitmap file) format. Other mobile operating systems may have their own demands as to the format and size of images used in their applications. In either case, you have to supply various sizes of images for the mobile OS to select the most appropriate resolution for the current zoom state of the UI. If you skip one or more sizes, the mobile device will rescale icons dynamically, which results in a significant loss of visual quality, clarity and legibility of the graphics. The required icon sizes and resolutions are specific to the operating system, but the more you have the better.

As you see, having your graphics available in various formats, sizes and color resolutions is not a benefit but a mere requirement for entering the market. Are you up to the challenge of crafting your graphics to the strict specifications of the various mobile device and operating system manufacturers?

Luckily, you don't have to! It is now easy to enhance the appearance of your mobile software with properly developed icons without having to ordering or drawing them in-house. Perfect Mobile Icons are available in all common sizes used in mobile systems, including 16x16, 20x20, 24x24, 32x32, 40x40, and 48x48 pixels, and come in 16 and 256 colors, while having 32-bit True Color versions for high-end VGA-resolution mobile devices and desktop communication tools. With respect to the different format requirements of handheld system makers, each icon is available in Windows Icon (ICO), Bitmap (BMP), GIF, and PNG formats.

Perfect Mobile Icons are a matching set of over 50 images made in common gamma and sharing common color and drawing style. Your mobile applications will look professional and consistent on any platform. Simply visit perfect-icons.com to see full-size online preview of these icons!

By: Dmitry Costenco

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Since SibCode's founding in 2005 and as of 2007, Dmitry Costenco develops web sites. He works for quality web interface, which will help to web surfers.

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