Custom Main Menu: Graphics, Scripting & Options

Full screen graphics

Create a dramatic Custom Main Menu by slicing a full screen image into graphics for each field.

TIP: Make sure that the question and answer font size settings on the Display Tab are set to standard and not large for all fields.

Making graphics for Main Menus

Windows Bitmap (.BMP) or JPEG (.JPG) pictures can be used for Custom Main Menus.  Graphics that use more than 256 colors will be reduced to 256 colors before being placed on the form.   For best results, reduce the number of colors before importing the image into the form design.

This can be as easy as saving your image as a 256 Color Bitmap in Paintbrush.  (Other illustration and photo software may require a different procedure.)

Custom Menu Articles:

Overview

Tutorial: Make a Custom Main Menu

Graphics, Scripting & Options

Making a Search Menu

Hardware Help:

Palm OS Standard & High Resolution Display, and Pocket PC Screen Size

Wondering why there are two sets of numbers for each pixel measurement?

Forms can be used on Palm OS handheld devices with a standard resolution display which is 160x160 pixels as well as on devices with high resolution display.  High-res devices have more pixels in the display area and thus forms are displayed in an area that is 320x320 pixels.

Pendragon Forms 5.0 automatically resizes graphics for display on Pocket PC devices which have a screen resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. You do not need to create separate graphics for this platform.

Although this is not a complete list, screen resolution sizes for popular devices are listed below.

Palm OS High resolution devices: Palm Tungsten series and Zire 71 and 72, and Treo 650 devices.  Sony Clie series handhelds.

Palm OS Standard resolution devices:  Palm Zire, Zire 21, Zire 31, i705, m5xx and m1xx series handhelds.  Handspring Visor and Treo series devices up to 600.

Sizing graphics

A Pendragon Forms Custom Main Menu can use graphics that total up to 160 x 121 pixels (high-res: 320x192 pixels) in size. 

On Palm OS handhelds, the height of each Section field is assigned in 11 pixel (high res: 22 pixel) increments.  For best results your decorative graphics should be trimmed to one of the following sizes:

Sizing Graphics for Pocket PCs

Pendragon Forms 5.0 automatically resizes graphics for display on Pocket PC devices which have a screen resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. You do not need to create separate graphics for this platform.

However, graphics that are exactly 224 pixels wide will not be resized on Pocket PCs.  Section fields on Pocket PCs are 16 pixels tall.   

TIP:  If you are creating a menu for a Palm OS device with a high resolution screen, make sure to check the Hi-res box on the Visual Tab in the form designer.