iPhone - Human Interface Guidelines

iPhone -
Human Interface Guidelines
Martin Ebner

The presentation bases on
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/userexperience/
conceptual/mobilehig/Introduction/Introduction.html

Do we need Usability?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdolishny/2760207306

The future is mobile

http://flickr.com/photos/thomcochrane/416206133/

Fun - just in time
- for your target group

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/161/

iPhone / iPad
just another device?

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/kiki99/1031313718

„The iPhone generates 33% of all smartphone trafﬁc
worldwide and 50% in the US“ (AdMob Mobile Metrics, Febr. 2009)

http://metrics.admob.com/

iPhone Human Interface Guidlines - Martin Ebner 2011

„The iPhone generates 33% of all smartphone trafﬁc
worldwide and 50% in the US“ (AdMob Mobile Metrics, Febr. 2009)

• The Symbian OS is still number one with 43% share and
six of the top 10 handsets. Windows Mobile and Palm each
lost half their worldwide share over last six months.

• The Top 5 US smartphones - Apple iPhone, BlackBerry
Curve, BlackBery Pearl, Palm Centro, and HTC Dream
(G1) - generated 77% of traffic in February

• The iPhone is now the number one device by usage in
Western Europe with 21% share of total requests



„91% of iPhone users and 88% of iPod touch users would
recommend their device, compared to 84% of Android
users and 69% of webOS users“ (AdMob Mobile Metrics, January. 2009)



A total of 99 percent of 200 respondents to a RBC/IQ
ChangeWave survey in August said they are satisﬁed with their
iPhone 3GS, with 82 percent of those "Very Satisﬁed."

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/14/apples_iphone_3gs_has_99_percent_satisfaction_rate.html


http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/14/apples_iphone_3gs_has_99_percent_satisfaction_rate.html


Apps usable for everyone?

ADS
„ ... pick the few features, most frequently used, by
the majority of your users, most appropriated for the
mobile ...“

Application Definiton Statement

{your differentiator} {your solution} for {your audience}


ADS
mobile ...“

Example:
{easy to use} {digital photo sharing} for {casual iphone users}

Note - this is a new app
{easy to use} {digital photo sharing} for {professional iphone
users}


ADS
mobile ...“

• Elegant solution: you must solve a user's problem and
solve it eleganty

• Great usability: solide app hierarchy, clean layout
• Gorgeous application icon: hey, the icon is the brand of
your product!


iPhone -
HI Guidelines

Planning your iPhone
Software Product

Designing the User
Interface of your
iPhone Application


iPhone OS Platform
Rich with Possibilites
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shuffle-art/1441940051

Platform Differences
„An iPhone OS-based device is not a desktop or
laptop computer, and an iPhone application is not the
same as a desktop application.“

• Compact Sreen Size - 480*320 pixels (iPhone 3 and
lower) or 960*640 pixels (since iPhone 4)

• Memory is not unlimted
• One Screen at a Time
• One Application at a Time (since OS 4.0 not, but
suggested)

• Minimal User Help


What Are Your Options?
„Depending on the implementation details and its
intended audience, some types of software may be
better suited to your needs than others.“

• An iPhone Application (available in App Store)
• Web-only Content (compare http://itunes.tugraz.at):
- Web Application
- Optimized webpage
- Compatible webpage

• Hybrid Applications (access to web content)


3 Application Styles
„... applicaton styles, based on visual and behavioral
characterstics, data model, and user experience.“

• What do you expect to be the user‘s motivation for using
the application?

• What do you itend to be the user‘s experience while
using the application?

• What is the goal or focus of the application?
• How does the application organize and display the
information people care about?


Productivity Applications
„ ... enables tasks that are based on the organization
and manipulation of detailed information“

• Organizing the list
• Adding and subcontracting
• Drilling down, performing
tasks on reached level


Utility Applications
„ ... perfoms a simply task that requires a minimum of
user input.“

• visually attractive
• enhancement of information
display

• Organize of information into a
flattened list of items; no
hierachy


Immersive Applications
„ ... offers a full-screen, visually rich environment
that‘s focused on the content and the user‘s
experience with that content“

• tends to hide much of device‘s user interface
• use of nonstandards controls appropriate
• information presentation
in the context of
game-play, story or
experience


Choosing an App Style

„When in doubt, keep it simple.“

• Pare the feature list to the minimum
• To bring ideas from you desktop application to an iPhone
application, apply the 80-20 rule (the largest percentage
of users will use a very limited number of features)

• Find the core tasks


Case Study: Mail
„ ... when people are mobile, their needs for an email
application are simpler, and they want access to core
functionality quickly.“


Human Interface Principles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/4315076635

Great User Interface
„ ... follows human interface design principles, that
are based on the way people think and work, not on
the capibilities of the device.“

• Methaphors (playback control, sliding on-off switching, ...)
• Direct Manipulation (with the Multi-Touch Interface)
• See and Point (Presenting choices or options in list form)
• Feedback (must be immediate)
• User Control (user, not the application must initiate and
control actions)

• Asthetc Integrity (how well the appearance of you
application integrates with your functionality)

Characteristics
of Great iPhone
Applications

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivalee/2939042459

Build in Simplicty/Ease of Use
„ ... users are probably doing other things while they
simultaneously use your application“

• Make it obvious
• High level Information near the top of the screen
(independent of how people tap on screen, top is most
visible)

• Minimize text input
• Keep essential information succinctly
• Provide a fingertip-size target area for all tappable
elements (calculator example: 44*44 pixel)


Focus on the Primary Task
„An iPhone Application that establishes and maintains
focus on its primary functionality is satisfying and
enjoyable to use“

• What is most important in each context?
• Is the provided information essential, does a user need
this information right now?


Communicate Effectively

„ ... avoid technical jargon in the user interface“

• Feedback is important
• use user-centric terminology


Support Gestures Appropriately
„To ensure that your application is discoverable and
easy to use, therefore, try to limit the gestures you
require to the most popular.“


Handling
Common Tasks

http://www.flickr.com/photos/intherough/4263146374

Starting
„iPhone Application should start instantly so users
can begin using them without delay“

• Specify appropriate status bar styles
• Display a launch image
• Avoid displaying an About window, splash screen or
another tpye of startup experiences

• Launch in portrait orientation


Stopping
„iphone Applications should never quit
programmatically“

• Be prepared to receive an exit or terminate notification at
any time.

• Save the current state when stopping
• Avoid alerts
• User has to decide if continuing you application or
pressing the Home Button


Settings and Configuration
„It‘s best when iPhone application do not aks users to
specify any settings at all“

• Focus your solutions on the needs of 80 percent of users
• Get as much information as possible from other sources
• If you must ask for setup-information, prompt users to
enter within your application

• Offer configuration options in the main user interface or
on the back of a screen


....
„Don‘t provide a button for a built-in action, because
users will wonder why there are two ways to do the
same thing in your application“

• Support Copy and Paste
• Support Undo and Redo
• Enabling Push Notifications (delivery is not guaranteed)
• Providing Search and Displaying Search Results
• Using the User‘s Location


Using Sound
„ ... users always expect to hear alarms that they have
set.“

• Ring/Silent Switch (avoid sound if it is not explicity set)
• Volume Buttons (the user always decided the loudness)
• Headset and Headphones (plug in headsets means sound
has to be set privately)

• Wireless audio (disconnection = pause, connection = no
pause)

• Defining the Audio Behavior is essential task


Multitasking
„ Multitasking allows people to switch quickly among
recently used applications, because apps can be
suspended in the background when they are quit.“

• Be ready for interruptions, and ready to
resume

• Make sure your UI can handle the double-
high status bar

• Be ready to pause activities that require
people’s attention or active participation

• Ensure that your audio behaves
appropriately


Multitasking
„ Multitasking allows people to switch quickly among
recently used applications, because apps can be
suspended in the background when they are quit.“

• Use local notifications sparingly
• When appropriate, finish user-initiated
tasks in the background.


Printing
„ ... users can wirelessly print content from your
application“

• Use the system-provided Action
button

• Display the Print item when printing
is a primary function in the current
context

• If appropriate, provide additional
printing options to users

• Don’t display print-specific UI if users
can’t print


iAd
„ ... you can allow advertisements to display within
your application and you can receive revenue when
users see or interact with them“

• size 320*50
• Place the banner view at or near the
bottom of the screen

• Ensure that banner views appear
when it makes sense in your
application

• As much as possible, display banner
ads in both orientations


iAd
„ ... you can allow advertisements to display within
your application and you can receive revenue when
users see or interact with them“

• Don’t allow an ad to scroll off the
screen

• While people view or interact with
ads, pause activities that require
their attention or interaction

• Don’t stop an ad, except in rare
circumstances


Brief Tour of the
Application User Interface

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ari/4314027331

Main parts of application screen
„Every application, regardless of type, has an
application window“

• Status Bar
• Navigation Bar
• Tab Bar
• Toolbar


Users are accustomed to the look and
behavior of standard views and controls

http://www.flickr.com/photos/r_catalano/4180965353

Status Bar
„People expect to see the current battery charge of
their device; hiding this information [...] is not an
ideal user experience“

• hiding status bar in case of immersive application
(carefully decision)

• important bar (cell signal strength, network,
battery)

• three possible colors


Navigation Bar
„ ... appears at the upper edge of an application
screen, just below the status bar.“

• enable navigation among different
views in an application

• provide title and controls that manage
the items in a view


Tool Bar
„ ... performs actions related to objects in the current
view.“

• constrain the number of items
(44*44 pixels)

• use the predefined buttons
• colors blue and black


Tab Bars
„ If you application provides different perspectives on
the same set of data, ... .“

• icons and text, all equal in
width and black background

• tab does not change its
opacity or height, regardless
of orientattion

• more than five tabs, iPhone
OS add a „More“ tab

• badging a Tab is possible to
communicate in a
noninstrutive way

Alerts, Action Sheets, Modal Views
„ ... appear when something requires the user‘s
attention ... “


Alerts
„ ... give users criticial information in a highly visible
way. “

• minize the number of alerts
• ask for confirmation
• single / double button alert


Action Sheet

„ ... appears as the result of a user action ... “

• no display of a textual
message

• two different backgrounds
• the closer the top, the
more visible

• be aware of mistakenly
tapping the bottom button
instead of Home button


Table View
„ ... presents data in a single-column list of multiple
rows.“

• provide feedback when
user select a list item

• display content
immediately

• plain / group style
• different table-view
elements


Text View

„ ... is a region that displays multiple lines of text ....“


Different Application Controls
„Remember that users expect familiar controls to
behave as they to in the built-in applications.“

• Activity Indicators • Progress Views
• Date and Time Pickers • Rounded Rectangle Buttons
• Disclosure Buttons • Search Bars
• Info Buttons • Segmented Controls
• Labels • Sliders
• Page Indicators • Text Fields
• Pickers

Sytem Provided Buttons
„ ... promote a consistent user experience and make
your job easier.“


Creating Custom Icons
and Images

http://www.flickr.com/photos/conorpendergrast/2634918994

Application Icons
„This is a place where branding and strong visual
design should come together into a compact, instantly
instantly recognizable, attractive package.“

• rounded corners, drop shadow, reflective shine
automatically added

• measures 57*57 pixel (114*114 for high
resolution)

• small icon for spotlight search (29*29; 58*58
high resolution)


Launch Images
„To enhance the user‘s experience at application
launch ... .“

• should not an about
window, branding elements

• measures 320*480 pixel
(640*940 high resolution)

• it is solely intended to
enhance the user‘s
perception, as quick launch,
ready for use


Icons for ...

„do not redesign standard buttons“

• simple and streamlined
• not easily mistaken
• readily understood and widely acceptable


iPad - New Way for Applications

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdExukJVUGI


What happens when you hand a
3-year-old an iPhone?

http://elearningblog.tugraz.at/archives/2994


Grab and Search your
Tweets http://grabeeter.tugraz.at
martin.ebner@tugraz.at
Slides available at: http://elearningblog.tugraz.at

SOCIAL LEARNING
Computer and Information Services
Graz University of Technology

Graz University of Technology

Martin Ebner
http://elearningblog.tugraz.at
mebner http://elearning.tugraz.at

iPhone - Human Interface Guidelines

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iPhone - Human Interface Guidelines