Literature from webcredible.com

Useful literature when creating an app or mobile site

7 usability guidelines for websites on mobile device

1.     Reduce the amount of content

2.     Single column layout – use the whole width of the screen and scroll downwards not across

3.     Different navigation – place navigation at the top or bottom, dropdowns, back-bottons

4.     Minimize text entry – minimize typing, use stored details, pin instead of password,

5.     Consider more mobile sites – for mobiles with different screen and processing power

6.     Design for both touch screen and non-touchscreen users – separate object to be clicked on

7.     Take advantage for inbuilt functionalities – calls, map, GPS, QR-codes

How to study mobile behaviour – an ethnographic perspective

Qualitative study of peoples’ mobile behaviour on the go

Insights about mobility (quoted)

·      A powerful motivation for using smartphones is the need for civil inattention, i.e. to appear engaged with something while travelling, waiting, or in situations when we are forced to be together with others while on our own.

·      Activities undertaken on the go are often interrupted and performed in short spurs, sometimes while also doing something else.

·      The time between stops is, in a subjective way, both the commuter's unit of time on the tube and also the length of their attention span when consuming content or performing a task on their phones.

Findings about mobile shopping behaviour (quoted)

·      Participants wanted to see some products in a big screen or, even better, in store before buying them, but some participants used their phone to buy something online soon after they saw it in a store!

·      Smartphones were used for "having a little browse" anytime participants felt too lazy to go downstairs and switch on the computer, but they still used their computer to carry out "important" tasks such as purchasing something very expensive.

·      As with most things designed, participants took "ownership" of their apps and used them in a way that makes more sense to them: we talked to people that use Foursquare just to read the reviews instead of checking in, or Twitter to find cheap flights.

·      Many participants were keen to use apps that replace human interaction, such as paying a their bill via the Pizza Express app instead of waiting for the waiter to come back with a card machine

·      People struggled a bit to find the right apps among all those installed on their phones, or at least to find them fast enough to use them on the go. Some of them devised interesting strategies to classify and remember them.

Six mistakes to avoid in mobile usability

Most known mistakes that people make when they are creating a mobile presence for their business

1.     Not adapting to the mobile platform – making mobile web-sites as if designing for at normal web site

2.     Missing the point – conduct a survey of what your customers want

3.     Failing to ask the target audience – test on target users!

4.     Over complicating things – keep it simple, used the most up-to-date software, limit hyperlink on each page to max 10

5.     Bloated sites – make it quickly accessible, not too much content which is slowly downloaded

6.     Jumping in without research – see what your competitors are doing (benchmarking)