Introduction

Because of the Palm OS device s limited screen size and memory, coupled with the limitations of wireless bandwidth, developers need to be much more careful in the use of graphics in Web clipping applications (WCAs). However, in many cases, images can be used to good effect to convey information economically. Graphics can add a lot in terms of aesthetics and usability to your Web clipping application. Well-designed navigational graphics can make it easier and more intuitive for visitors to navigate around your site, and for applications such as Web catalogs, a single image may convey more information in a small space than a text description could.

If you re familiar with optimizing graphics for display on the Web, many of the same principles apply for Palm OS devices. You ll need to take extra care to keep size and color depth to an absolute minimum. Web clipping provides a mechanism for storing graphics on the device to avoid downloading them over a slow wireless link. You can link to these precompiled graphics both from local pages as well as from pages downloaded over the Internet. The Palm.Net proxy can also be of some help, because it will resample online graphics to monochrome if the device making the request does not support color.

Web clipping can use the two most common Web graphic formats: CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photography Experts Group (JPEG). Although the first version of Web clipping didn t support color, Palm OS 4.0 adds color on those...