User Experience

User Experience is about dazzling the user and creating positive overall experiences. Your app should:

Have amazing UI that flows at the fingertips of your users – See the BlackBerry 10 UI Guidelines for more details.
Built for BlackBerry apps must use BlackBerry 10 UI Guidelines.
**Note that only using a BlackBerry framework does not mean you are using BlackBerry 10 UI, you must adhere to the BlackBerry 10 UI guidelines to get the BlackBerry 10 look and feel.
Users should not have to wonder what to do next.
Consider adding a help tutorial.
Use aesthetically pleasing artwork or graphics. Pixelated graphics as a style is acceptable, but unintentional graphical artifacting is not.
Make good use of the screen real estate by focusing on content.

To help facilitate Built for BlackBerry approval of your app, we have outlined the below testing criteria which apps will be judged on.

= Required for apps

= Required for games

Built for form factor	Apps and games should use the whole screen in an effective and attractive manner. Check Screen Structure, Screen Sizes, and Portrait and Landscape for some suggestions. See App Icons and In-App Icons for guidance on icon size and styling. View samples Good: Bad
Focus on content	Focus on what is important to the user – their content. Recognize that they chose to make it the center of their BlackBerry experience and celebrate it! View samples Good: Bad
Gestures and Flow	Implement gesture and flow techniques (like peek gestures) for fluid user interaction. Your application should be designed to make the user feel fully in control; gestures must follow the finger, and be continuous and reversible. Check Gestures and Notifications for some guidance. View samples
Application Navigation	Your application UI must make it easy for the user to achieve frequently used tasks. Keep these guidelines in mind: Make important and frequent actions easy to access using tabs in the Action bar and Tab menu (Game apps exempt). View samples Good: Use of primary functions in the Action Bar Bad: Keep less frequent, more specific actions in the Action Menu (Game apps exempt). View samples Picture view app shows less frequent application options Use touch-and-hold context menus for direct access to content-specific actions. (Games exempt). View samples Address Book shows content specific actions Use the Application Menu as the entry point for application global actions such as Help, Settings, or Log Off (Games exempt). View samples Swipe down in the Browser shows Settings Make custom controls for application-specific features obvious and consistent with the BlackBerry 10 experience (Games exempt). View samples Camera app using custom controls Good: Bad Leverage shortcut functionality for the user for more fluid interaction; typically in context menus or keyboard commands (Games exempt). Conserve space – avoid duplicating application actions or tabsin multiple menus. Refer to the UI guidelines for guidance on consistent menu structures.
Progress Feedback	Users should feel confident about the progress of activities on their devices, such as rescaling a large image or opening a new screen. Don’t leave them guessing with a totally black screen, but make sure you optimize your code and interaction model to minimize the presence of progress and activity indicators. Check Progress and activity for some suggestions. View samples Use a progress indicator when you can determine the duration of an action Use an activity indicator when you want to show that your application is working

For additional information about creating successful overall user experience, review BlackBerry UI guidelines on our developer site.