System and method for implementing a landscape user experience in a hand-held computing device

A hand-held computing device comprising a display and a processor is provided. The processor is configured to provide a graphical user interface on the display, the graphical user interface being switchable between a portrait mode and a landscape mode. An application running on the processor can generate a workspace to be displayed within the graphical user interface. In some embodiments, the workspace in the landscape mode is rotated 90° relative to the workspace in the portrait mode. The graphical user interface can also comprise a tool bar generated by an operating system running on the processor. In these embodiments, the tool bar location is switchable between left and right placement options. The landscape mode can also include left-hand-adjusted and right-hand adjusted configurations.