Design message notifications for iOS 5

As one of the major updates to the IOS5, the Notification Center can place all the alerts in a user's iOS device in one location, greatly facilitating user viewing and management. If a user receives a new e-mail message, a text message, or a request to add a friend, whether under any interface (including a full screen application, such as games), users can "pull down" from the top of the screen, and the notification center will be "pulled down", where the user can view all notices. So Apple's introduction to iOS5 says the notification Center is the perfect way to keep abreast of the latest life information.

Scenarios in which notifications may occur

Typically in the following scenario, the iOS application notifies the user that something interesting has happened:

1. Received a message

2. Something is about to happen

3. New data available for download

4. The State of certain things has changed

Four types of notification for IOS5

1. Banner (Banner)

A banner notification is a new feature that appears in IOS5, a bar that is displayed at the top of the screen and automatically disappears after a few seconds. A banner notice will display the program's small icon (low split screen display 29x29 icon, high split screen display 58x58 icon), program name and notification content. Small icons help users to see at a glance which application is reminding them.

2. Reminder (Alert)

Reminder notifications do not automatically disappear and require the user to interact with them to close. The designer needs to design the details of the notice, and sometimes the action button (which is discussed later) to design title. The background style of the entire reminder, including the buttons inside the style, is immutable, so designers and developers should not be creative here. Android because of its openness, we can use our own designed controls, and iOS may be doing this to keep the UI style consistent.

3. Mark (Badge)

A tag notification is a red oval mark displayed in the upper-right corner of the program's icon that shows the number of notifications that are required to be processed by the user. Similarly, the color and shape and size of the tag cannot be changed. The number of updated applications in the app Store, and the number of unread messages received in mail is notified to the user with a tag.

4. Sound (Sound)

Voice prompts are also a way of notifying iOS, which supports customization and can be used in combination with the previous three types of notifications.

Local notifications and push notifications

The iOS application uses local notifications or push notifications to alert users:

1. Local notification

Local notifications for applications are generated and published by the user's iOS device, regardless of whether the application is running in the foreground. Just like a calendar application, or a to-do list application, you can send a local alert alerting the user that a meeting is about to begin.

2. Push notification

The application's push notification is published as follows: The application's remote server (Provider) first sent a notification to Apple's push notification service (Apple push Notification service, APNs), and Apple's notification server then pushed the notice to all Ann iOS device with this application installed.

If you want to use push notifications, you must first register with Apple's push notification service which types of notifications you want to use, such as the following code that represents both the registration of both the tag and the sound of the two types of notifications:

-(void) applicationdidfinishlaunching: (UIApplication *) App {

Other setup tasks here ....

[[UIApplication Sharedapplication] Registerforremotenotificationtypes: (uiremotenotificationtypebadge| Uiremotenotificationtypesound)];

}

How to use various notifications

Applications that use local notifications can use banners, reminders, tags, sounds, but applications that use push notifications need to register the type of notification to use first.

The following points need to be noted when using notifications:

1. Guarantee the content of the tag is up to date

2. Do not issue multiple notifications for the same event

3. Notification content does not include the name of the application

For tagged notifications, the tag disappears automatically when all the items are resolved.

In banners and reminders, and at the top of the notification center, the iOS system automatically displays the name of the application in the message, so there is no need to include the app name when designing the content of the notification.

When designing the contents of a notification, you also need to be aware of:

1. Focus on the expression of information, not the action of the user. Avoid prompting users to click which button or how to open the app

2. Short, preferably no more than two lines. Long information is difficult to read quickly, and there is bound to be a scroll bar

3. Use sentence Caps (Sentence-style capitalization, first letter capitalized) and appropriate punctuation marks, ending with a period of general use

About "Reminders"

A reminder may contain one or two buttons. For reminders with two buttons, you need to leave the button on the left side and the action button on the right.

The button on the left of the point closes the reminder and the button to the right closes the reminder and opens the application.

If there is only one button, this button should be a OK button.

Clicking on this OK button will only turn off the reminder and will not open the application.

For reminder notifications, you need to be aware of the title of the action button when you design it:

1. Title can accurately describe the action to open the application. For example, click the Play button, you can open the game, users can immediately play

2. Use title caps (Title-style capitalization, capitalize the first letter of each word)

3. Short Enough

When you receive a new alert notification when the screen is locked, the title of the action button is displayed in the "Slide to view" message, replacing the word "view" and converting all letters to lowercase.