Presentation of text

Alignment

The default text alignment in left-to-right languages is on the left. There are only a few exceptions to this in specific cases, for example, soft indicators in the home screen, which are right-aligned.

In right-to-left UI languages, the default text alignment is on the right.

Truncation

When a text does not fit into the view where it is displayed, it should be truncated. By default, texts are truncated from the end, and ellipsis (...) is displayed at the end of the truncated text as an indication. There are two exceptions to this main rule:

  • Phone numbers are truncated from the beginning, because the first digits of a phone number are usually considered less important than the numbers at the end.

  • This general rule may be overridden in certain detailed components, where the latter part of the text is more differentiating than the beginning. Such might be, for example, queries to select an email address.

Marquee scrolling

When a text does not fit to a list view, the list text can be horizontally scrolling. Marquee scrolling should be used for texts that are not generated by the phone and for which truncation is not desired for some reason. For example, a Web address may not fit to one row of text in a list and it may be important to see the whole address.

Scrolling is done only when the item is highlighted. The text is scrolled in only one direction, and it does not loop.

Content zooming

Content zooming is supported in the various lists, forms and settings in the Symbian UI. In this way, users can either use smaller font sizes to fit more information on the screen, or they can increase the text size if necessary. The user can choose between three different zoom levels using General Settings.