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Mobile/Fennec/Extensions/UserInterface: Difference between revisions
Mobile/Fennec/Extensions/UserInterface (view source)
Revision as of 15:30, 14 September 2009
, 14 September 2009→Device Characteristics
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===Device Characteristics=== | ===Device Characteristics=== | ||
The following is a list of the most relevant characteristics of the current generation of mobile devices. | |||
* Small screens | * Small screens | ||
** They're getting bigger and higher resolution, but they're still small | |||
** Pare down what you put on the screen to the minimum - you have limited space to work with; if something isn't directly relevant to the task at hand, consider moving it away or getting rid of it | |||
** You are further limited in that finger-size is fixed, even as resolution gets higher -- you can fit only so many points of interaction (like buttons) even as you can display more | |||
* Difficult to type | * Difficult to type | ||
** Even with good predictive suggestions on soft keyboards or physical keyboards, typing is almost always more difficult and time-consuming than on a full-sized keyboard | |||
** Try to minimize the amount of typing a user has to do | |||
*** let them pick from lists or make suggestions as to what they might want (which you can improve based on input like the awesomebar) that they can tap on | |||
*** remember previous input so users don't have to keep re-entering it | |||
* Direct manipulation - touchscreens | * Direct manipulation - touchscreens | ||
** It's not all just limitations! Touchscreens allow for very rich physical interactions | |||
** look into to gestures, and follow the emerging design patterns | |||
** certain principles from the desktop (like Fitts' law) don't apply in the same way | |||
* Many abilities - rich devices | * Many abilities - rich devices | ||
** devices have cameras (multiple!), microphones, location-positioning abilities, compasses, accelerometers, to name the common ones | |||
** think about what you can do with them, and also how they can help you avoid making users type | |||
* Constant but interruptible connection | * Constant but interruptible connection | ||
** users are never on a wired connection, or even necessarily wifi, so interruptions are more common; try to fail and recover gracefully | |||
===Mobile User Characteristics=== | ===Mobile User Characteristics=== | ||