System Colors and Fonts

  • Article

The following table lists the fonts used in applications for Windows Mobile-based devices, based on the language the device is shipped in.

Language Font
Asian languages Tahoma 9pt
All other languages Tahoma 8pt

Consider the following when you incorporate color into the user interface:

  • Use color to highlight important information.

  • Use contrast to improve readability.

  • Because a color can appear differently on different device displays, do not use color to convey the meaning of critical features.

  • Keep in mind that the appearance of the user interface degrades on a device display with low color depth.

    The following illustration shows a portion of the base set of colors used on Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and how the colors appear on a 4-bit grayscale display.

  • On Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs, avoid hard-coding colors and instead use standard color values as described in the following table.

    Description RGB value
    Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements. 000 000 000
    Face color for three-dimensional display elements and for dialog box backgrounds. 192 192 192
    Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source). 255 255 255
    Light color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source). 255 255 255
    Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source). 128 128 128
    Color for the active window border. 000 000 153
    Color for the active window title bar. Specifies the left-side color in the color gradient of the title bar if the gradient effect is enabled. 000 000 153
    Background color of multiple document interface (MDI) applications. 255 255 255
    Desktop. 000 000 000
    Face color for three-dimensional display elements and for dialog box backgrounds. 217 204 192
    Color of text on buttons. 000 000 000
    Color of text in caption, size box, and scroll bar arrow box. 000 000 000
    Right-side color in the color gradient of the title bar for an active window. 000 000 128
    Right-side color in the color gradient of the title bar for an inactive window. 000 000 128
    Color of unavailable (dimmed) text. This color is set to 0 if the current display driver does not support a solid gray color. 128 128 128
    Color of selected items n a control. 000 000 153
    Color of text of selected items in a control. 255 255 255
    Color for an item that executes application functionality when clicked. 000 000 255
    Color of inactive window border. 192 192 192
    Color of inactive window caption. Specifies the left-side color in the color gradient of the title bar if the gradient effect is enabled. 128 128 128
    Color of text in an inactive caption. 128 128 128
    Background color for ScreenTip controls. 255 255 255
    Text color for ScreenTip controls. 000 000 000
    Menu background color. 255 255 255
    Color of text in menus. 000 000 000
    Gray area of a scroll bar. 192 192 192
    Color of window background. 255 255 255
    Color of window frame. 000 000 000
    Color of text in windows. 000 000 000
    Background color for static controls and dialog boxes. 255 255 255
    Text color for static controls. 000 000 000

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