At An Event Apart – Austin 2013, Luke Wroblewski shared his thoughts on how we should be designing for mobile creation. This means – how should we build web forms and interactive websites that take into account the user’s habits/posture when using their device.
Here are my take-aways from his talk.
- The ‘mobile moment’ is where your mobile traffic exceeds your desktop traffic. Facebook recently reached this ‘mobile moment’
- Most mobile use is in houses, not on the go
- Ergonomics is now important for touch devices, since the mouse and keyboard barrier are gone. This means how we design the website/app should take ergonomics into account.
- “It takes big changes to go small” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO
- This means the mobile experience should have a focused and clear flow.
- “Just in time education” is best when showing tips on using the website or app. This means only showing tips as the action is being taken. Avoid showing a full how-to guide up-front.
- The answer for the debate between native apps vs mobile web is – They should both good for their own strengths.
- The ideal world would utilize cross device usage – so you can pick up where you left off – think reading books on Kindle, using Chrome for browsing on various devices, that remembers what you viewed/searched
My summary:
As I begin building websites for mobile, I need to research and test different ways that are ergonomically correct for users to interact with the device. This involves how large to make buttons, where to place them on the screen and much more.
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