Toolbar
Above, is the Start Page of Malacca. Tapping on the icons you see represent different content and tools lets you view and use these on the Simputer. At any time during browsing, tapping on the Home icon will bring you back to the Start Page.
Content
Malacca can display rich text and graphic content. Both of which can be synthesised to speech if so specified by the content-creators. It also provides ways of inputting data to applications. We will see examples of all these, but first let us see how to move around Malacca.
Navigation
Links (coloured light blue in this theme;above) are text segments you can tap on and see new pages that come up as a result. You can move between pages encountered by following links by tapping on the Back and Forward buttons next to the page's Title. Say you tapped on the "Level 0" icon on the Start Page, and the "Formatting Text" link in the page that comes up, you will come across a page such as shown below, left. This page has another page following it - notice the Next Page button on the bottom right of Malacca is enabled. Tap on this to go the Next Page. You will see the second page as shown below, right.
The above pages also show you some of the text-formatting capabilities in Malacca.
To see recent visited documents, tap on the Recent Documents button. Tap on a link (coloured grey in example, below) to view that document. The Recent Document list allows you to switch between opened documents. Tapping in the Recent Documents button takes you back to the page you were previously viewing.
Data Input
Malacca provides various ways for the user to enter data. On the first page, below left, single- and multi-line text-entry examples are shown. On the next page, below right, various buttons - radio- and check-buttons, drop-drop menus and spin-boxes are shown.
On handhelds where Malacca is installed, PicoPeta's Tap-A-Tap will
automatically appear in case of text entry in English. On PCs, a normal
keyboard can be used for input.
Text-to-Speech
Speaking out text is one of the unique features of Malacca. Content-creators can specify what has to be spoken - look for a speaker icon on the top of a page (below, left), or parts of the page marked differently than links (below, right). Tapping on these makes the browser speak out the content.
Graphics
Graphics such as lines, circles and images can be viewed in Malacca.
Graphical content, like text, can be links and have speakable content
associated with it. You will see a toolbar pop-out of a graphic if a link or
speakable content is available - tap on the Link icon (left-to-right arrow) to follow the link, and the Speaker icon to hear the associated audio (below).
Images can also be panned. To do so, touch the image with the stylus (or
mouse) and while keeping it pressed down, drag the image across. To
reset the image to its original position, tap and then select the Reset icon
(north-west pointing arrow, shown below).
Tools
Annotating pages
Another unique feature with Malacca is that you can easily and quickly annotate any page with freehand sketches and writing. To annotate a page, press the
Annotate button. If no previous annotation is found for the current page, a blank sketch-area is brought up. You can immediately start writing and sketching in this area. If you want to specifically annotate over the page, click on the
Page Thumbnail and then start annotating (shown below).
The Annotation tool lets you change Pen Width (drag the width-selector up or down), Pen Colour, Pen Pattern - between solid and matte. You can Undo recent markings (on a new note), or Erase the entire screen if you want to start over again.
Sketchbook
You can also create freehand-hand sketches that are not associated with any page. The Sketchbook (tap on the
Sketchbook icon at the bottom of Malacca) is a bunch of
pages in which you can make any kind of drawings. The same drawing tools in the Annotate tool are available here too.
Have Fun!
SEE ALSO
Malacca: Code Samples
Malacca: Technical Overview
Malacca Documentation
Malacca: Download
Malacca: A Business Perspective
Things you can do with Malacca
