Most of the content that is displayed on small screens is not composed of local data; more and more information is instead called up via a network when it is needed. This increases the challenge for the designer, who must increasingly consider usage scenarios and functionality as well as create space for them in the navigation structure and on the display. The designer is no longer dealing with the specific information design, but instead has to develop the rules by which the content is presented on the screen. This means that all concepts must be scalable; they must work equally well with large and small quantities of data. your question: What can I d your question: What can I do for you? my pictures: my pictures: A community where the user represents themselves with vir tual identities (or avatars), works well if it consists of 3 ­20 persons. However, if it consists of a larger number of users then, this form of access can no longer be presented successfully. Lists, extendable menus or forms that only show a fragment of the content ­ because the designer did not anticipate that the content entered might be longer than the space that was permitted ­ are far from ideal. A possible solution for this problem is the incorporation of functionality that allows dynamic changes to the text size. The automatic rendering of scroll bars to navigate the screen is not an elegant design solution, simply because they will not always be necessar y. Metaphors Metaphors, which are often used in vir tual communities, are especially difficult to scale. The more specific the reference to reality, the more difficult it is to maintain an over view of a growing volume of data. The advantage of intuitive access is lost because of the lack of clarity. The presentation of all of the shopping sites on the world wide web as a vir tual high street only works to a limited extent because there are just too many options, so the street would be infinitely long. By limiting the search criteria the range of options can be concentrated so that a pictorial metaphor will work. Databases Most electronic information is stored in databases, retrieved dynamically and incorporated into the layout. In many cases the database structure is either fixed, or the data are drawn from existing databases. To design the optimum concept for use and an attractive and intuitive visual software inter face, the designer should find out as much as possible in the concept development phase about the information that can be retrieved from the database and the structure within which it is stored and linked. 096|097 The Network on Small Screens