Presented to the Vancouver Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication at their May 2011 meeting. This is a discussion of issues, and strategies for creating usable, navigable, relevant content for mobile computing devices like smartphones. Included many examples and a case study.
11. Screen Dimensions Device Portrait Landscape iPhone 320 x 480 pixels 480 x 320 pixels iPad 768 x 1024 1024 x 768 RIM Playbook & Samsung Galaxy Tab 600 x 1024 1024 x 600
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13. There is no Mobile Web. There is no Desktop Web. It’s just The Web in different situations.
The flourishing market for smart phones and tablets offers new challenges and opportunities to writers, graphic designers, photographers, website and software producers, and user interface designers. But how do we design great experiences? Can we use what we already know to help inform our design decision for these new devices, or do we have to start from scratch? Is it possible to adapt content and navigation to work with smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices, or do we have to author all new content? How do user attitudes and expectations affect our approach to designing for new technology? We'll explore what's changed, what's stayed the same, and what's going to work on computing devices that have now moved from the desktop to your palm.
The term “Mobile Web” (although often criticized ) is commonly used to describe accessing the internet using a mobile device. This definition is broad enough to cover everything from using a browser on a feature phone, to using highly customized apps on smartphones or tablets. “There’s an app for that” has made device-specific applications the rage of the day, with some companies starting off backwards with “we need an iPhone app” instead of first understanding what their users actually need when they are mobile, the devices that they use, and then deciding the best approach for going mobile, which may not be an app, but could be a mobile website instead. Mobile websites are universally accessible, less expensive to develop and maintain, and can be searched and accessed by most mobile phones.
This is what a UCD Practitioner asks Who are the users of the document/application? What are their tasks and goals? What’s their level of experience? What functions do they need from the document/application? What information might they need, and in what form do they need it? How do they think the document/application should work?
Make sure lists are not too long, are large and easy enough to view when scrolling down, and don’t take too many swipes to view the entire list.Long, vertical lists take too long to decipher, especially when they are not finger friendly. Consider filters to help make it shorter.Consider an index (alpha or structural) to help jump to a spot on the listIf you absolutely have to have long pages, make sure list pages load quickly by using something like lazy loading: load only when you need it, such as when you scroll down, or at the bottom, with a ‘more’ button.