General Design Guidelines

Keep It Personal

The Newton in its current implementation is a very personal machine; it is meant to be customized for a user. Unlike the desktop computer, which is often used by many different people, Newtons are commonly used by one person exclusively. This means that your application should strive to be personal as well. Where applicable, let users personalize the application. Better yet, do it for them--for example, make views moveable and remember their locations.

Remember that one of the greatest opportunities in this marketplace is in creating custom applications built for particular individuals or companies. NTK's quick turnaround time for development makes this a snap. For example, you could write a restaurant application exclusively for Alice's Restaurant, or an inventory control program based solely for the stock of Acme's mail-order warehouse.


An online version of Programming for the Newton using Macintosh, 2nd ed. ©1996, 1994, Julie McKeehan and Neil Rhodes.

Last modified: 1 DEC 1996