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此文主要讲SX1的"侧键"设计的用意，我本来也是莫名其妙，认为是一大弊端，现在才明白了，才开始喜欢这种设计了。希望读完你也有同感。文见下：
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Symbian DevZone - Siemens SX1 Developer Opportunities
Symbian 开发讨论区 － Siemens SX1 开发者的机会
By Richard Bloor
JULY 10, 2003
作者：Richard Bloor
时间：2003年7月10日
Content Type: News Analysis
Source: Wireless Developer Network
内容类型：新闻分析
来源：无线技术开发者网
Series 60, with its contacts database and call logging features means that dialing a number from the keypad should now be an infrequent activity. As a result it is likely that the keyboard on a Series 60 phone will be used far more for text entry than number dialing. The control of Series 60 is primarily through the joystick and soft menu keys, which almost certainly influenced the design of the Nokia 7650 with its shy little hideaway keyboard. As we have already noted in an earlier article (reference) the Nokia 3650 keyboard was designed around the Series 60 navigation buttons that resulted in the circular numeric keypad. Siemens with its SX1 have gone even further and thrown away the rulebook to create a radical new layout that sees the keyboard moved up to sit either side of the phone抯 display.
因为Series 60拥有联系人数据库和拨入拨出电话记录使得直接在键盘上输入电话号码成为不常发生的动作。这样的话，在一个Series 60的手机上用键盘来输入文字会比输电话号码要多得多。对Series 60的操作主要是通过控制杆和菜单软键来实现的。Nokia 7650显然就是受到了这种影响才设计出了隐藏于滑盖下的小键盘。我们还注意到更早些的Nokia 3650把数字键放在了围着Series 60浏览按钮的一个圆圈上，就像古老的电话机。Siemes SX1则走得更远，打破规则创造了一种很先锋的把数字键放在了手机显示屏幕的两侧的"侧键"布局。
According to Oliver "Oz" Zechlin, Global Marketing Manager for Application and Services for smartphones the SX1 is positioned as an aspirational flagship product within Siemens mobile phone portfolio. "It is the very first Siemens phone to combine built-in camera, video player/recorder, 65k TFT color display, MP3 player and FM radio with an unique natural loudspeaker in one," Oliver said. "We hope that the SX1 will be a fashionable object of desire. It's aura is powerful and we believe that in design terms SX1 is outstanding and offers a highly innovative side-key concept which increases the speed and convenience of use."
依据Oliver Zechlin（Siemens全球手机应用与服务部市场主管）的观点，SX1被定位成一个有望成为Siemens手机部门的旗舰产品的智能手机。他说：“这是第一款把内置相机、视频播放器、视频摄像机、65K TFT 彩屏、MP3 播放机、FM 收音机和自然语音扬声器组合于一身的Siemens智能手机。我们希望SX1成为大家渴望追寻的时尚目标，这种愿望很强烈，而且我们相信SX1设计团队做出的这个突出的、很具创造性的将数字键放在机身两侧的"侧键"设计将使人们能更快更方便的使用手机。"
Creating a new design has its pitfalls, the obvious one being that of user acceptance. New keyboard designs, particularly given the experience in the PC world where several attempts have been made to offer better alternatives to the QWERTY keyboard, have been largely unsuccessful in the past. Siemens are aware of this as a possible issue. "We have conducted extensive tests on the user interface," Oliver said. "The first thing our tests illustrated was that people are curious about the design and they want to handle SX1 to try it out. Our test results have shown that people easily get used to the new concept and there is a high acceptance for the new keypad design. Of course not everyone likes the design but overall we believe we have achieved that all important ease of use for our customers."
创造一个新的设计都会有它的问题，很明显的一个是用户的认同度。过去有几个更合理的有别于标准PC电脑键盘的PC电脑键盘设计无一例外的遭受了巨大的失败。Siemens意识到了这确实可能是个问题。Oliver说："我们在用户操作界面上进行了广泛的测试。我们的测试第一个显示出来的就是人们对这种"侧键"设计十分好奇都想用手实际的操作试试。测试结果显示人们很容易习惯使用新的设计，而且有很高的认同度。当然并不是每一个人都喜欢这种设计，但是总体来说我们相信我们已经达到了给用户提供更轻松的使用的主要目的。"
The side keys also open up some new possibilities for developers. The majority of the keys are adjacent to the screen creating the possibility of using the number keys in a direct way to control applications something which would have been impossible with a standard keyboard. This rather obvious usage unsurprisingly has not been lost on Siemens.
"侧键"的设计还提供给开发者一些新的可能性。因为大多数数字按键紧邻着显示屏，所以直接使用数字按键来对应操作显示屏上的应用程序成为可能，而这在标准键盘上是不可能的。这种使用方式显然Siemens的重点。
To ensure that side key controls are not as obscure as standard keyboard shortcuts there is an obvious need to incorporate some form of label into the screen display. Doing so however would obscure a significant portion of the screen, reducing the space available for the application, not necessarily a desirable thing to do on the 176 x 208 Series 60 screen (the SX1 screen is actually 176 x 220 as Siemens have added a permanent status bar to the standard Series 60 layout). Siemens addressed this issue by devising three alternative models for labeling the keys.
为了保证"侧键"控制不会像标准键盘操作那样容易使人混淆，显然需要组合排布一些标签到显示屏。这样做会使屏幕的一部分被占用，还减少了应用程序的显示面积，我们可不希望在一个176×208的Series 60屏幕（SX1实际显示屏分辨率是176×220，因为SX1在标准的Series 60的界面上方增加了自己的一个状态栏）上老是看到这个东东。Siemens 通过三种不同的方式来解决这个问题。
The first is permanently displayed labels. This model has the labels always displayed, with the application space being narrowed to the center of the screen. As the active application space is reduced this approach will work best where the key label information integrates with the application. This is the approach Siemens has taken in providing controls for the SX1抯 FM radio where the side keys provide access to preset radio stations, in a similar fashion to the preset buttons on a conventional radio.
第一种方式是固定显示标签。标签总是显示，而应用程序缩到显示屏的中间。在应用程序同按键标签一体化的时候，采用这种方式效果最好。Siemens采用这种方式用于使用"侧键"选择SX1的FM收音机的预设电台，这就很像常规的收音机的方式。
The second approach is to have a temporary layer that displays the key labels, activated by the user. In this model the labels obscure the underlying screen temporarily while they are displayed. This approach will allow the application to continue to use the full screen but provide the user with the key labels when they need them, either while they are learning the shortcuts or when reminding themselves of ones they don抰 use that frequently. This option reduces the number of available shortcut keys as one will need to be reserved to show the labels. Siemens are recommending that the activation key is the 8 key. The final option is to use a semi-transparent layer where the key labels permanently overlay the screen but the application is still visible below. The key label background would need to be visually identifiable and clearly associated with the label so as to ensure that the application background and key label were not confused by the user. This option may well be the hardest to implement because of the graphic design needed to ensure that the application in background and label in the foreground do not clash, otherwise neither key label or the underlying application will be readable.
第二种方式是使用一个临时的层来显示用户激活的按钮标签，显示的标签会遮盖底下的图层。这种选择允许应用程序继续使用全屏模式，而只保留用户最需要的或在学习使用的或最常用的标签。这样减少了快捷按键的数量，只要一个键被用于显示标签。Siemens倾向于采用数字键8作为激活按钮。最后一种选择是使用一个半透明的层，标签一直显示在上面，但是底下的应用一样一直可见。标签背景和标签有明显的区分、关联以保证两者不会被用户混淆。这种选择可能是最难于实现，因为图像的设计需要保证在底下一层的应用和在上面一层的标签不会互相冲突，否则底层的应用和上面的标签都会无法看清楚。
The design of the SX1 also means that where keys need to be labeled the application will not be able to use all 10 number keys for shortcuts. This is due to the fact that the 1, 2, 6 and 7 keys are adjacent to or above the status panel at the top of the screen. However for games, which can use the whole screen (except for Siemens'own status panel) only the 1 and 6 keys are adjacent to the status information.
SX1的外形设计使得无法使用全部的10个"侧键"都被应用程序用作快捷按钮，因为1、2、6、7这几个键邻近或是高于显示屏的状态栏。当然在游戏的时候如果排除了Siemens本身的状态栏，游戏就可以占据整个屏幕，那么只有1、6两个键不可用了。
Creation of the key labels will be a manual coding exercise as there are no additional APIs to create button labels.
创造按钮标签将是一个自己动手编码的过程因为这里没有现成的API来创造这些按钮标签。
"At first sight, I thought that the arrangement of the sidekeys was just a unique part of the product design." Said David Mannl, who works as a freelance consultant on Series 60 interface design. "But when I started to work on concept interfaces and applications for the SX1 I realized, that the use of the sidekeys as hotkeys gives me new possibilities for creating applications that otherwise would have been to difficult for the user to navigate through. The arrangement of the sidekeys allows me to design applications with a much more effective user experience, as there is a strong visual connection between screen content and user interaction."
"第一眼看到的时候，我认为这种两侧键盘的排列方式只是一个在产品外观设计上的独特玩意儿，但是当我开始接着设想SX1的用户界面和应用的时候，我意识到使用两侧键做热键的方式给了我新的可能性来创造用别的方式难以操控的应用程序。这种布局让我能设计出能带来更高效、印象深刻的用户体验的应用程序，因为在屏幕内容和用户操作界面之间有很强的视觉联系。"－David Mannl，自由记者，Series 60界面设计顾问。
The design of the SX1 offers developers the flexibility to add additional control to their applications that will be easily accessible to the user. It will be interesting to see how widely this option is used. Games developers are likely to be the main users as games often use the number keys to provide game control. Also games probably won't need to use the labels extensively (they don't at the moment) meaning that all 10 keys could be used and little additional development effort will be required, particularly if the game already includes a key mapping function. The use of the side keys to control other types of application will in many ways be a barometer of the SX1 popularity as effective use of the side keys will require a slightly different approach to the applications interface design. They do however offer the possibility of improving the user experience by making regularly used functions more accessible.
SX1的设计使得开发者可以灵活地增加更多的操作在他们的应用程序里，而且这些新增的操作很容易被用户理解。到时候看到会有么广泛的开发者这么作将会是一件有趣的事情。游戏开发者们可能会是最主要的使用者因为游戏经常采用数字键来做操作。游戏大概也不需要使用全部的10个键，并且只要少量的增加的开发工作，如果这个游戏已经包含了一个按键映射的功能。使用"侧键"来操作其他类型的应用将会通过很多种方法实现，随着SX1的流行，以后只要在应用界面设计上做出轻微的修改，就能够有效的使用"侧键"，使得功能使用有规则可寻，而更易于被用户理解，从而提高了用户体验。
One of the strengths of Series 60 is its ability to provide the consumer choice in hardware while providing a common platform for developers. The SX1 will be able to run Series 60 applications without any need to consider using the side keys but developers now have an option that could be used to improve their applications usability. It will be interesting to see how many rise to the challenge.
Series 60的一大优势是它提供了一个用户可以选择硬件的通用平台给开发者。SX1可以完全不考虑将两侧数字键当作功能键而正常运行Series 60。当然开发者有这么一个选择来应用"侧键"以提升自己开发的应用程序的可用性。这也会是一件有意思的事看到有多少开发者接受这个挑战。
Siemens are planning to publish a white paper describing the use of the side keys in more detail on their developer by the end of July.
Siemens正计划在7月底发布描述"侧键"使用的更多细节的白皮书。
About the WDN Symbian Editor, Richard Bloor:
关于WDN Symbian 编辑－Richard Bloor：
Richard Bloor is a freelance writer and editor with 18 years experience in the IT industry as a developer, analyst and latterly Project Manager with a particularly focus on software testing. Mr. Bloor has been involved with the Symbian OS since 1995 and has been writing about it for the last 3 years. Mr. Bloor is also an associate with System Architecture consultancy Equinox of Wellington, New Zealand.
Richard Bloor 是一个拥有18年IT业开发经验的自由作者和编辑、分析家，最近成为了专注于软件测试的项目管理者。Bloor先生从1995年开始介入Symbian操作系统的事务，最近三年里写了很多关于Symbian的文章。他还是新西兰的System Architecture consultancy Equinox of Wellington的理事。
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发表于：2005/10/4 4:53:00 [只看该作者]
