User Manual
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1.1.24.6.2 Colors
4.5.2.14.6.2.1 Foreground/Text
Foreground colors should contrast extremely with the background.
Since most of our background colors are very light, labels, and text areas
will have black foreground colors. Buttons on the other hand have very
dark backgrounds, so their text will normally be white.
1.1.1.2
4.6.2.2 Background
Backgrounds for panels should be light and change in color and or
image with different concept area. For example if there are two panels on
one screen that represent different ideas, utility record and meter status,
they should be of different colors to make them easily distinguishable.
Since colors cannot be completely relied upon due to color
blindness, images with different subtle textures should be used as well.
Images can be added by using com.innovatec.ui.BasicPanel instead of
JPanel, and setting the image through
BasicPanel.setBackgroundImage.
1.6
4.7 Navigation
4.6.14.7.1 Keyboard
In general, navigating between components follows these rules.
• Tab or Ctrl-Tab. Moves keyboard focus to the next component or to
the first member of the next group of components. Use Ctrl-Tab when
the component itself accepts tabs, as in text fields, tables, and tabbed
panes.
• Shift-Tab. Moves keyboard focus to the previous component or to the
first component in the previous group of components.
• Arrow keys. Moves keyboard focus within the individual components
of a group of components, for example, within menu items in a menu
or within radio buttons in a group of radio buttons.
Most of the keyboard navigation is taken care of by Java, some
changes in tab order may need to be implemented by specifying the
next focusable component to a component. This can be accomplished
by JComponent.setNextFocusableComponent.
1.1.1.14.7.1.1 Mnemonics
Mnemonics are another keyboard alternative to the mouse.
Mnemonics can be used to navigate menus.
Rules of thumb for creating mnemonics:
1. If the mnemonic does not appear in the table of common
mnemonics, choose the first letter of the menu item. For instance,
choose J for Justify.