The text area can contain many design features to enhance usability on a small-screen mobile device. Position the text area at the top of the portrait screen for a guided experience.

The text area can contain action controls so small-screen mobile device users can access various aspects of the dashboards that might otherwise be difficult to see or manipulate on a small touch screen. For example, the default forward and back buttons in the Spotfire Web Player are difficult for an adult-sized finger to touch or manipulate. This is also true for the standard filter control; however, if you add these as action controls in a text area, you can control their size, layout, and padding.

Keep the following recommendations in mind when you add a text area.

• Buttons for a guided analysis placed in the text area must be sized to be touch-friendly for average adult male-size hand.
• Set the font style and size to a size that is easy to read--at least 12 point.
• Have enough padding around the controls in a text area that they are selectable.
• If you must have a filter, add it as a control in the text area.

In addition to controls that create a guided experience, we recommend using dynamic controls, such as sparklines and calculated values, icons, and bullet graphs. You can use them to navigate to other pages in your dashboard, and they can provide a simple, easy-to-see executive summary on the small screen.

For more information about inserting a text area with action and dynamic controls, see the Spotfire help topic How to Use the Text Area.