The central hub of any Pocket PC is the Today screen. This is the one place to go to see pretty much all the information you need at a glance. Fortunately, it’s just about infinitely extensible and there are lots and lots of Today screen plugins available to get your Today screen to display just the information you want, just the way you want it.
The Zen of… Windows Mobile?
The first, and likely most popular option, is to just stick with what you have. By default, the Windows Mobile Today screen shows some pretty useful information. More importantly there’s plenty of white (okay, blue) space so that it doesn’t get so cluttered that you can’t find the information you need at a glance. The calendar module can show you just the next appointment, or the next day or so. The tasks module can show you a count of active tasks, or it can also show you how many high priority and/or how many overdue.
There are several benefits to keeping it simple. First, you don’t have to install anything extra, saving RAM and storage space (remember, Today plugins are loaded at boot time and stay in memory all the time, so they’re a permanent drain on y0ur maximum available RAM). In Windows Mobile 5, the stock plugins are all controllable via the directional pad, meaning they’re very one-handed use friendly. Of course, all they really do is open the corresponding apps, so all you can do with them is select and activate, but it works. And by not trying to show you everything on one screen but instead just providing a summary on which you can drill down, they keep the Today tidy and uncluttered.
Sticking to the basics is also a great way to not drown out or hide any third party plugins you might install. For example, I use MyPersonalDiet from VidaOne (review later) and I have the plugin on my Today screen just under Messaging (showing me unread email and SMS counts) and just above Calendar. So right there along with other important info about today I see how much I still either need to eat or exercise.
The downside to keeping it simple? Since in most cases you’re only seeing summaries of your data, it requires more of you to actually drill down and look at individual items from time to time. I might know I have 3 active tasks, but I still have to open the tasklist to see what they are, and it’s often all too easy to just not bother. A tasklist doesn’t do much good if you don’t look at it. Also, if you have many Today modules at all, you’re going to have to scroll to see the ones on the bottom. I minimize this problem by putting modules I don’t need to see very often at the bottom of the list (Bluetooth Audio, Pocket Player), but I really hate having to scroll to see anything. Again, it’s all too easy to just ignore anything “below the fold.”
Next: Tweaking the basics
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Here’s a radical idea, Mike. You can use Pocket PCs for different things. Have you read my current series on doing actual work wirelessly without syncing?
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[...] Jeff Kirvin recently wrote a series of columns [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6] about how to customize the home screen of a Windows Mobile phone. When I saw those articles, I fled. In an email exchange in which Jeff recommended I read his articles, I replied in my typical (un)diplomatic manner that, “I want to DO WORK, not dick around with toys!” [...]
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