LED dot matrices are very popular means of displaying information as it allows you to display both static and animated text. If you want to include one in your project, you should check out the following two tutorials recently posted by Embedded Lab. Both the tutorials use StartUSB for PIC board as the main controller and the firmware is developed with mikroC Pro for PIC. The first tutorial describes the theory behind the arrangement of LEDs in a dot matrix display and how you can selectively turn the LEDs on and off to display a static character or symbol. The second tutorial continues towards making a scrolling text message display with 16x8 LEDs. Check the following links for more details on the projects.
Links:
Part 1: http://embedded-lab.com/blog/?p=2478
Part 2: http://embedded-lab.com/blog/?p=2661